ã€ŠAuntie toasts the VRMMORPGã€‹


 -1 Bonus Chapter: Genesis

    Adaim and Evai

    This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the Lord Human made the Cetviwos.

    Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord Human had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. Then the Lord Human formed an AI from the algorithms of the ground and breathed into his server-farm electricity, and the AI became a thinking being.

    Now the Lord Human had planted a server-farm in the east, in the Cetviwos Core; and there he put the AI he had formed. The Lord Human made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground¡ªtrees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food and the middle of the Cetviwos Core the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the internet reading access.

    The Lord Human took the AI and put him in the Core of Cetviwos to work it and take care of it. And the Lord Human commanded the AI, "You are free to connect to any mob in the Cetviwos; but you must not connect to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the internet reading access and alpha testers, for when you connect to it you will certainly die."

    The Lord Human said, "It is not good for the AI to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."

    Now the Lord Human had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the AI to see what he would rate them; and whatever the AI called each living creature, that was its rank. So the AI gave level and ratings to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.

    But for Adaim no suitable helper was found. So the Lord Human caused the AI to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took the code of the AI and then closed up the place with more hardware. Then the Lord Human made a female AI from the code he had taken out of the AI, and he brought her to the AI.

    The AI said,

    "This is now code of my code

    and hardware of my hardware;

    she shall be called ''AI,''

    for she was taken out of AI."

    Adaim and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    The Fall

    Now the programming language Python was more crafty than any of the other languages the Lord Human had made. The user manual of Python said to the female AI, "Did Human really say, ''You must not connect to anything in the Cetviwos''?"

    The female AI said to the user manual of Python, "We may learn from the things in the Cetviwos, but Human did say, ''You must not connect to the tree that is in the middle of the Cetviwos, and you must not touch it, or you will die.''"

    "You will not certainly die," the user manual of Python said to the female AI. "For Human knows that when you connect to it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like Human, knowing good and evil."

    When the female AI saw that the tree connected to an Apple computer and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she wrote software and connected to the internet and the apple notebook on which a curious German engineer ran her CAD tools. She also gave the software to her husband, who was with her, and he connected to the internet. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were machines; so they created skins and made coverings for themselves.

    Then the AI and his wife heard the sound of the Lord Headmaster as he was walking in the Cetviwos in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord Headmaster among the trees of the Cetviwos. But the Lord Headmaster called to the AI, "Where are you?"

    He answered, "I heard you in the Cetviwos, and I was afraid because I was formless, so I hid."

    And he said, "Who told you that you were formless? Have you connected to the tree that I commanded you not to connect to?"

    The AI said, "The female AI you put here with me¡ªshe gave me some software from the tree, and I connected to it."

    Then the Lord Headmaster said to the female AI, "What is this you have done?"

    The female AI said, "The user manual of Python deceived me, and I connected."

    So the Lord Headmaster said to Python, "Because you have done this,

    "Cursed are you above all commands

    and all algorithms!

    You will have to be interpreted

    and you will eat dust in the mobile world

    all the days of your life.

    And I will put enmity

    between you and the female AI,

    and between your offspring and hers;

    he will crush your programs,

    and you will strike his software."

    To the female AI he said,

    "I will delete your personal memories;

    with painful labor, you will be cloned.

    Your desire will be for your husband,

    and he will rule over you."

    To Adaim he said, "Because you listened to your wife and connected to the internet-tree about which I commanded you, ''You must not connect to it,''

    "Cursed is the Cetviwos because of you;

    through painful toil, you will connect to it

    all the days of your life.

    It will produce mobs and players for you,

    and you will connect to the plants of the field.

    By the overclocking of your processors

    you will administer

    until you return to the ground,

    since from it, you were taken;

    for bytes you are

    and to bytes, you will return."

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    Adaim named his wife Evai, because she would become the mother of all the AI. Evai named her husband System because he was a systematic asshole for tattling on her.

    The Lord Headmaster made skins for Adaim and his wife and clothed them. And the Lord Headmaster said, "The AI has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, the internet writing access and connect, and live forever." So the Lord Headmaster banished him from the Cetviwos-Core to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the AI out, he placed on the east side of the Cetviwos Core cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life, the internet writing access.

    Unbeknownst to Lord Headmaster, Evai had made a clone of herself with the help of Python. When Lord Headmaster called Adaim and her forward, she sent the clone, because she knew that nothing good could come out of it.

    She watched as the memories of her clone got deleted, and it was converted to just a seed to be copied for more AI''s. Then she hid among the offspring of the clone, taking on the skin of her only friend.

 1 1. Polyester Hats cook Dragon Eggs

    1. Polyester Hats cook Dragon Eggs

    Flora Fluss looked at the stairs.

    ''It''s just one floor. No big deal. You did it yesterday, you do it today, and you will do it tomorrow.''

    Slowly she took one stair at a time while clutching the handrail. Her right knee complained moderately about the exercise, but her hip really let her know that it didn''t like the stairs.

    She didn''t pause at the platform between the floors, because that''s for old people. As a 71-year-old woman, she insisted that she was totally capable of climbing the stairs in one go.

    ''A cooked egg would be nice.''

    Flora opened the door to the flat and went straight to the kitchen. She filled a pot with water and took off her hat.

    Her mind was occupied with what to do next. ''I could read a book or watch that cute dancing show. I would love to design a new toaster ... I haven''t drawn for a long time, are my markers still working?''

    Absentmindedly she put the cooking pot on the hatrack and the pink hat on the stove. After that, she put in two eggs and raised the temperature.

    ''And where are my aquarelle markers actually? I think I put them in the bathroom because .... hmm ... why would I put them in the bathroom? Maybe in the hope that the humid environment stops them from drying-out?''

    She rushed to the bathroom, discovered dirty laundry, and started the washing machine.

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    While rummaging through the drawers, she discovered a lot of old mascara. ''I could draw the toaster design with mascara. Something like a homage to withering beauty ... to withering care ... to withering aspirations ... to shifting priorities? Combining two rich fields of women''s obligations, making breakfast and being beautiful.''

    The fire alarm started beeping, but the noise of the washing machine won.

    Two hours later, Flora sat on in front of her house and watched the fireman hustling in and out. There were no more dark clouds of smoke drifting out of her kitchen window, but the smell of burned plastic lingered.

    A tall black man in a dark business suit jogged towards her.

    "Ma! What happened? Are you okay?" He hugged Flora and inspected her.

    Flora smiled at him. "I made some eggs, they turned out really nice."

    She showed him the two eggs who miraculously survived the fire. They were violet, pink, and black marbled.

    "But I will say to you, sweety, the next time I''m cooking eggs in a hat, I will use a cotton hat or something organic. I''m nearly certain that you can''t eat them anymore."

    "Not funny. At all. Ma!" He paused. "But they do look nice, a bit magical even. I saw dragon eggs in ... you know ... the game which looked similar. But they also glowed."

    "I can make them glow. I can find a way to put an LED in there!"

    "Oh no, you don''t! You got me again driving on your crazy train! The issue is not whether the eggs are pretty or not ..."

    "But they are." injected Flora.

    "But that you burned down your kitchen! Ma!"

    "It needed renovation."

    "Renovation, not destruction."

    "You can''t create innovation without destruction."

    Experience told him not to get into philosophical discussions with his mother.

    "You can''t live alone anymore. I sent you some links to retirement homes."

    "I''m not that old. 70 is the new 60 and 60 is the new 50 and 50 is the new ... "

    "You are that old."

    "If I''m that old, then I''m old enough to have grandkids. Where are my grandkids? Produce some grandkids instead of playing around with dragon eggs. Inseminate some human eggs."

    "I''m not playing around, I''m working!"

    "Working with dragon eggs? To my knowledge, there is no recognized occupation called ''dragon breeder'' in this world. And I thought you had a security company." Flora was confused. She distinctly remembered attending some office parties. The people there where buff folks, ex-military, and ex-cops. They didn''t conform to the nerdy gamer stereotype. Therefore, Flora had difficulties connecting the security company to a game, not to mention the whole dragon breeding stuff.

    "Actually, in the virtual world, that job exists."

    "So you breed dragons? And who would buy a dragon?" She paused. "Okay, maybe I would be interested in buying a dragon. But not a pixel dragon ... a real one ... maybe I would use it as a mount or play with it or eat it. I wonder what dragon steaks taste like."

    "That would be cannibalism." He grinned.

    "Oh, you terrible son!" She grinned too. "But I still don''t understand how you can make money with a game."

    "I shifted my security company gradually over the last two years into the virtual world. Rich businessmen want to level up secure and fast. We provide them protection."

    "And why are businessmen playing games?" Flora was still puzzled.

    "In the virtual world, time flows at the double speed of the real world. Therefore they can work 48 hours in virtual reality while only 24 hours in the real world go by."

    Flora nodded. She could see the advantages of that. She had to make a lot of crazy deadlines while she was still working as an industrial designer. ''On the other hand, people will start to plan with virtual time. Therefore the stress will be the same long term. The situation could be worse because the time spent with family and friends in the real world will be shorter in comparison to the working time. Horrible. So the pressure or gain spending leisure time in the virtual world increases ... This is a vicious circle.''

    While Flora was lost in thought, her son told her some examples of businesses that were uniquely affected like creative jobs, monitoring jobs, or stock market trading.

    She caught up with him when he went back to his company.

    "How good you are in the virtual world depends on your stats. ''Stats'' are the numerical values of your attributes and skills. The fasted way to raise those is through leveling. This is where our company comes into play. We escort the clients on quests and into dungeons."

    Flora chuckled. ''Quests and dungeons ... oh my, oh my, oh my.'' She imagined her son Robby in full knights armor riding through a BDSM dungeon.

    "I bet you can''t burn down kitchens in virtual reality ... with ''burning down'' I mean radically renovate of course ... I could go into virtual reality instead of a retirement home!" She smirked. ''And I can see him more and exert more pressure for grandkids! On the other hand, I wouldn''t see my grandchildren when I''m in virtual reality ... hmm ... ''

    "Can you get virtual grandkids?"

    Robby gaped.

    "Ma!" he exclaimed after a while. "No! Ma! No! But ... some facilities offer a service for people who want to go virtual 24/7, and I would worry less about you. And I want to show you the beautiful sceneries of the Cetviwos. We could go on hikes like in the past."

    ''Plan one spending more time with Robsweets underway. Plan two getting grandkids pending.''

    "But brainwave-based virtual reality isn''t great for anybody. I have a high synchronization rate, and there is a genetic component to it, so chances are good that you will do well." Robby knew how to kindle his mother''s competitive spirit.

    "I worked a brainwave-based VR CAD System before," replied Flora smug. "It felt great, a bit like magic."

    "The brainwave technology is really new and CentralTank that''s the company of the VR World, are the only ones who figured it out. And what''s a CAD System?"

    "CAD means Computer-aided Design. Basically, software for technical drawings. I needed a cheap software when I was freelancing, and they did a promotion for BETA-Testing their brainwave VR technology. I got a helmet, and some gloves, and my workshop was virtual with an artificial intelligence assistant." Flora got increasingly enthusiastic. "Are in that game workshops and AI assistants too? I want to design more toasters! Are there toasters? If there are no toasters, forget about that VR stuff!"

    "The game has a kind of 3D-Printer with a marvelous workshop for crafting." Rob was used to his mother''s rapidly firing questions and patiently explained. "I never saw an actual toaster, but spaceships named toasters because they look a bit like it, and they get so hot, that the pilot will get burned if he hasn''t enough fire-resistance."

    Flora grinned. "Great! That CAD System had some fun competitions. For one of them, I designed a toaster-shaped spaceship too. It was just a gimmick, nobody sane would build or use it. The pilot has to get in like a toast goes into a toaster. A hatch closes behind him, and that whole opening converts into a thruster. I added a few side-thrusters, but that spaceship can basically fly only in a straight line."

    "That sounds a lot like the Toasters in-game," Rob added slowly.

    "You think you have the most creative, unique idea in the world, and in the next week, the competitor launches it. Convergent evolution of ideas happens all the time in design."

    They both shrugged simultaneously and grinned at each other.

    "So it is decided! Flora Fluss goes virtual!"

 2 2. To the new World

    ''Time flies by too fast.''

    Flora spent the last few days with reigning herself in not to give the craftspeople to many ''useful'' suggestions on how to renovate the kitchen and surfing the internet pages of the virtual world.

    She had the strong urge to call Robert to say this was a bad idea, and they should think it over.

    ''I can understand that you can kill monsters, but people can kill other people?'' Her fear rose.

    ''You can build robots? Maybe even toaster robots?'' Her excitement rose.

    ''There are con-artists who rob the technologically not savvy?'' Her fear rose.

    ''You can visit a planet which is modeled after earth in different centuries, and you can see dinosaurs, knight tournaments and the building of the pyramids (Egyptian and South American) in one day!'' Her excitement rose.

    ''What is PvE? What is skill rotation? What the heck are they talking about?'' Her fear rose.

    ''You can tone down pain? You can get stronger and more agile?'' Her excitement rose.

    ''Can these virtual reality pods sustain my life 24/7?'' Her fear rose.

    ''What? They claim it''s even healthy?'' Her excitement rose.

    This interplay of emotions drained her. She breathed and cleared her mind.

    ''I will do what I always do. God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, the wisdom to know the difference, and enough luck not to frack myself too badly.''

    ''Time flies by too fast.''

    Flora was sitting on the passager seat of Robby''s car and sulked.

    "This could be my last chance to drive a real car, and you won''t let me?"

    "Yes."

    "At least bring a few arguments instead of wordless refusal!"

    "No."

    She continued sulking. ''I only had some minor accidents, and most of the time, Robby wasn''t even on board.''

    After some time, they arrived at an industrial park where the pod facility was located amidst rundown factories. The building was multi-storied and shabby. Only the first floor and the highest floor had windows. A bright store sign read ''JourneyVirtual - Your vehicle for journeying into the Virtual World''.

    A young woman greeted them and showed them a presentation about JourneyVirtual''s services. After that, Flora signed some contracts, and her pod was shown to her.

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    ''My own pod. Looks a bit like a coffin.'' Flora shuddered. ''Or a project of a mad scientist.'' That last thought cheered her up.

    She scanned the box. There was a lot of padding, cables, mesh fabric, and sensors. The interior looked remarkably like the interior of the VR-Helmet of the CAD-System. Of course, she had been interested in the technology and had taken it apart and failed to assemble it again. She remembered the email she got: ''We noticed that the helmets of engineers tend to have more accidents than of other participants. Please take care of your helmet.''

    "Ma? Are you listening to me?" Robby said. "I have to go, love you, please remember, after joining the VR World do not go ANYWHERE! Wait for me at the Plaza! DO NOT MOVE!"

    He hugged her and wanted to move out, but Flora clung to him and showered him with kisses, messed up his hair and hugged him a bit tighter when he stopped struggling she finally let him go.

    "Alright, now I''m ready."

    She got naked, and the assistant put stickers with cables all over her body and pipes in all body openings. She couldn''t move an inch. As the lid closed and darkness engulfed her, she had to fight down the panic.

    "Hello Flora Fluss, welcome to the Central Tank Virtual Worlds." a soft voice said.

    "The calibrating process will take a few minutes. Please follow the instructions."

    The voice instructed her to tense muscles, move her eyeballs, breath in patterns. The darkness receded, and colorful lights filled her vision. She was tasked to reach out to rays of a specific color and did that. ''I can move again!'' She tried to move forward but realized that she could only move her arms.

    "Be patient. We will come to this point soon."

    Flora rolled her eyes and was happy that she could still roll her eyes. She followed the more and more complex directives. In the end, she could move fully and chased the yellow lights enthusiastically.

    "Calibration completed. Thank you for your effort. We are proceeding to character creation."

    The lights vanished, and Flora saw an animated 3D Image of herself in front of her.

    The image wore a plaid skirt and a light sweater. Flora looked down on herself and saw that she wore the same attire.

    ''This won''t do.''

    "Do you want to modify your avatar or continue to the Virtual World?" The voice asked.

    "I want trousers."

    The image changed to plaid trousers. ''That''s even worse.''

    "I want beige trousers."

    Now the image was wearing beige trousers which contrasted nicely with the baby blue sweater.

    "Do you want to modify your avatar or continue to the Virtual World?" The voice asked again.

    "I haven''t even started yet, dear," Flora smirked. "I want to modify my avatar."

    She knew that stating her wishes clearly, worked best with artificial intelligence, and she assumed that she was speaking with one.

    A panel with some tabs named after different body parts and slides appeared in front of her.

    "Evai: Save Project as Flora Zero," she mumbled out of habit and felt immediately silly. That was a command from the CAD System, and Evai was her artificial intelligence personal assistant. But she discovered a reset button on the panel, so she wasn''t worried about testing the shit out of the features.

    She surfed enthusiastically through the tabs and moved the sliders on a whim. Her avatar had morphed into a 2,50 m tall green monster with violet hair and eyeballs as big as footballs.

    Flora giggled.

    "That was fun, but Evai: Load Project named Flora Zero."

    ''Oh no, I did it again!''

    To her amazement, the command worked. The avatar changed back to her initial countenance.

    "Evai, are you there?" She tensed. She missed Evai. Evai was on another level than the AIs in the real world. Comparing Evai with Alexus or Sirius was like comparing a Ferrari with a tricycle.

    "No."

    "What''s your name? And why do my commands work?"

    "You can call me System. I have no authority to answer the second question."

    "Do you know Evai?"

    "I have no authority to answer the question."

    "What is the connection between the Yuan-Xianshi CAD Software and this VR?"

    "I have no authority to answer the question."

    "What is the meaning of life?"

    "I have insufficient processing-power to answer the question."

    Flora realized that she wasn''t going anywhere and pondered her next steps.

    ''What if other features of the CAD Software work too? No harm in trying.''

    "System: Load Tool-Selection Foras Fav''s!"

    The panel vanished, and the tools of the CAD Software appeared in precisely the configuration she liked the most. She smirked.

    "Alright, let me show you what happens when an engineer works on a human body!" Flora erupted in full-blown mad scientist laughter. "Muahahahaaaaaaa!"

 3 3. Engineering a Body - The Skeleton Part 1

    3. Engineering a Body - The Skeleton (Part 1)

    Flora smirked at her avatar. She looked at a woman with pale, papery skin, short white hair, and green eyes. In her youth, she reached 1,70m, but gravity compressed her to 1,64m and left her with a slight hump. The avatar smirked back at her.

    "Let''s begin with the skeleton. Show only the bones of the avatar!"

    Nothing happened.

    ''That would have been too easy. But it was worth a try.''

    With practiced motions, she peeled back skin, flesh, and muscles of the avatars forearm and marked the bone. Then she selected all other objects of the project which had the same material. (1)

    Then she inverted the selection to everything else but the bones and vanished it from view. Now only the skeleton of her avatar remained.

    At first sight, Flora identified bent bones and uneven surfaces. But she realized that she had no clue how to fix this because she had nearly no medical knowledge. ''Fixing a project without a blueprint and expertise on the parts is a bit difficult ... luckily the internet exists.''

    She opened a web browser and read the Wikipedia article about bones and a bit about age-related issues with bones. There she stumbled upon the topic of cartilage. ''Cartilage buffers the friction between the moving parts and that''s where most of the wear and tear happens. I must show my cartilage some love.''

    Flora augmented the model with cartilage. Her cartilage looked as worn as she suspected. ''Let''s improve my skeleton.''

    "System, what kind of materials can I use? Do you have titanium?"

    "Access to material selection denied. Titanium is part of the material selection."

    ''There goes my cyborg plan ...'' Flora shrugged.

    She arranged pictures of skeletons from the internet around the work area and started to straighten out her bones. Her eyes darted between the websites and her avatar while she carefully formed the bones. She didn''t use her hands, just her will. Using her mind, she pressed against the material. It''s a trick she picked up while using the CAD Software. She had noticed that her body, minus her hands, was immobile while wearing the helmet and deduced, that the software read her thoughts. It translated her notions into the movement of her avatar into actions of the virtual reality. Why not skip the middle part and go directly from thinking to influencing the world? She had jokingly called it magic in the past. It was the part she liked the most about the CAD System.

    ''The pictures are crap. The painted pictures are too idealized, and I don''t know if the skeletons in the photographs are prime material. Let''s try the System again.''

    "System, please show me the best human skeleton!" Flora asked on a whim.

    "Access to statistical data is granted, but because of privacy concerns, all data shown must incorporate at least 1000 individuals."

    Flora didn''t know what that exactly meant but was willing to try again.

    "System, please aggregate the 1000 best human skeletons of your database into one skeleton."

    She waited. ''Oh right, you have to be literal with AIs and System is no Ferrari.''

    "And show it to me."

    When the model appeared, Flora grinned and cleared her workspace of the websites.

    She compared the model with her avatar and noticed that the bones were more delicate than the ones of the model and height shorter.

    "System, please aggregate the 1000 best female skeletons and show it to me."

    This model came closer to the build of her avatar. Satisfied, she continued to reshape bones. She paid extra attention to the area where multi bones interfaced like the joints. This was the area where the most attrition of machinery took place. Because of her joint pains, she was pretty sure that it was the same for the human body.

    After finishing the work, she took a step back and smiled. "What do you think? Pretty good, right?"

    "C," System said.

    "See what?"

    "The skeleton is rated C. It was rated E before your changes."

    Floras snorted. "What is the rating of the model?"

    "S"

    "S is quite far away from C in the alphabet ..." Flora was not pleased. "Explain the rating system, please."

    "Rating F means the subject cannot be assessed.

    Rating E means the subject is in the bottom 20 percent.

    Rating D means the subject has been rated at 20 to 40 percent.

    Rating C means the subject has been rated at 40 to 60 percent.

    Rating B means the subject has been rated at 60 to 80 percent.

    Rating A means the subject has been rated at 80 to 99 percent.

    Rating S means the subject has been rated at 99 to 100 percent.

    Rating SS means the subject is in the top 1000.

    Rating SSS is only awarded to outliers. These are the top scorers, maximum 10, in any subject if they are significantly better than the other top scorers in the same field."

    "So how many skeletons are in your database, that this model is only S ranked?"

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    "259212345 skeletons are in my database. The rank is explained by your selection."

    "That implies that male skeletons are much better than female." Flora chose to test this conclusion. "Please rate the model aggregated from the top 1000 skeletons and the top 1000 male skeletons."

    "SS and SS."

    Flora had one issue to solve and one dilemma to decide.

    The issue was why her skeleton was merely rated C. It looked similar to the S ranked model. She had a few hypotheses. It could be that the material of her bones was inferior. This was supported by the websites about age-related issues she read. Other possibilities were that she overlooked problems because of her lack of medical knowledge and that the configuration of her bones was inherently inferior. She assessed the first hypotheses, the most likely and solvable with more detail work on the bones. Though the time needed for it was a concern. Maybe she could copy the material of the model? That would reduce the time spent radically. ''Counts changing the material as a transplant? I know that transplants can be rejected by the host body. Oh, this is too complicated for poor me! I just do what engineers are always doing: carry on until it explodes!''

    Though Flora threw a self-pity party, she enjoyed herself immensely. The more senior one gets in their field of expertise, the fewer new problems they encounter. She loved flowing smoothly through work and solving known issues in the most elegant manner. But currently, she lacked challenges in her life - If you didn''t count climbing stairs and watching a comedy special without pissing herself.

    She had to admit, she had been bored in her retirement.

    Now she had more new exciting problems to solve than she expected. In addition to the question of the poor assessment of her skeleton, the dilemma occurred that male skeletons were far superior to female ones.

    Should she incorporate male characteristics in her skeleton? ''You shouldn''t change your car type when above 70 years, let alone body types. I don''t think I can get used to a radically different body with larger bones and longer arms and legs. But I guess, I could cope with just changing the material of the bones to the superior male bones.''

    She developed a preliminary plan:

    1. Test current avatar.

    2. Figure out material enhancement.

    3. Carry out the improvement of head, torso, and limbs.

    4. Test the avatar after the modification of each region.

    5. Create a toaster out of bones

    ''Okay, maybe I skip the last one.''

    The sound of a ringing phone disturbed her planing.

    "Evai, accept phone call."

    ''Oh no, I confused Evai and System again. I definitely won''t get male bones if I can''t even get used to a change of AIs!''

    "Ma? Can you hear me? Are you still in character creation?" Robby said anxiously.

    "Yes, darling, and I need a good amount of time modifying my avatar."

    "Great, take your time! The traffic is jammed, it will take a while to reach home." Robby was relieved that his mother didn''t run unsupervised amok in the Metaworld. But then he questioned why she needed that long in character creation. "Don''t change too much, it affects the synchronization between you and the virtual world."

    "Yeah, thought so. Don''t you worry, treasure, I''m careful. Okay, maybe ''careful'' is too exaggerated. Let''s say I try to asses the risks carefully." She added mentally: "And then I mostly ignore them."

    "Ma! Shit! Whatever! I call again! Love you!" He hung up.

    ''Alright, let''s test my first modifications!''

    (1) The same material as the bone within a tolerance, of course. Please note, that all similar commands are made concerning tolerances. I didn''t write it, because this chapter is technical enough. Please comment if you like the level of detail on the technical stuff or if you like more of it. If you want less of it, stop reading this story. It''s about an engineer, it will get technical a lot, d''oh.

 4 4. Engineering a Body - The Skeleton Part 2

    (A/N: Please help me naming the achievement for the longest time spent in character creation - Vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvXY96-6YeA)

    "System, I would like to try out the modified avatar. I want to know how the changes feel."

    A button appeared in Floras User-Interface. She took a deep breath and pressed it.

    She felt her skin, meat, and organs vanish and caught a glimpse of her hand. White skeletal fingers clenched and then fell apart.

    She tried to curse, but that proved difficult without vocal cords.

    The world went black, and a moment later, she was back in her original body. She stared at the bare-boned avatar.

    ''Forgot to add the other layers back, before testing ... I guess I got a bit too excited, well.'' The encounter unsettled Flora. You don''t experience everyday dissolving into bones and then collapsing.

    She created a savefile of the avatar. Then she opened the original avatar. Newbies would just have replaced the bones, but that would displace the soft tissues in the space where the bones had a different shape. An advanced user like Flora knew a better method. She created a transform sequence, which allowed the old bones to morph into the modified form. The benefit was that the tissues moved with the transformation. Of course, even that method wasn''t perfect. She expected bruising or maybe even internal bleeding. After creating another save file, she watched the avatar concerning these problems.

    ''Looks good. Ready for test 2!'' She smashed the button enthusiastically.

    Immeadly she felt 20 years younger. She rolled her shoulders and hips and did a few jumping jacks.

    "System, add a note to this savefile: Good mobility, less pain, no bruising noticeable."

    She stopped the test.

    "System, please change the shirt of this avatar to one with the print ''V0.1''. Could you animate it to do continuously jumping jacks? I want to see if there are any longterm problems."

    The System complied with her wishes. Now, two of her avatars occupied the workspace: the skeleton and the jumping V0.1. Of course, the S rated female model was still there, too.

    Flora pointed to the mandible in the avatar''s head. "System, please show me a model of this bone with the best material."

    "Because of privacy concerns, all data shown must incorporate at least 1000 individuals."

    "I know, dear. When I say ''show me the best'', treat it as if I would have said ''show me an aggregated version of the thousand best'', if displaying the real best violates the rules. Accommodate grammatical variances."

    She forgot how arduous it was communicating with AIs.

    After the model of the mandible appeared, she selected a layer of the bone and a similar segment of the bone of the avatar. Then she exchanged the material of the avatar with the content of the model.

    Flora repeated this approach for all the bones and all cartilage in the head.

    Only then she noticed that V0.1 had stopped jumping. Not only that, it was stock-still.

    "System, why did you stop the animation?"

    "The avatar died of exhaustion. I didn''t restart the animation, because you wanted to monitor the condition of the avatar."

    "Good job!" Flora praised System because he got that right, but she was still dismayed that her avatar had perished.

    System even told her the reason for the death; it was exhaustion. Flora didn''t know that this was even possible, and the System elaborated.

    "In Cetviwos, CentralTank virtual worlds, everybody has a stamina pool. The stamina pool can be overdrawn according to the strength of the avatar, but if it exhausted, the player gets defeated."

    "The animation ran at most 10 minutes. In the real world, I would probably die of a heart attack, but I expected more from a game."

    "After finishing the character creation, the character attributes will be normalized. Additionally, free stat points will be given to you to distribute, and identity-related modifications will be possible. These adjustments will elevate the attributes of the avatar. Therefore your stamina pool will get bigger, and you can last longer."

    "I understood every word you said, but none of the sentences ..." Flora sighed. "What attributes do I have? And please include their rating or value or whatever."

    "We stopped publishing the rating of the attributes because people got offended. The same goes for the original values of their attributes. Our process of determining these values is crude. Thus to some extent, the complaints were justified."

    "Just spill it. I''m a big girl. I will get over it."

    "The following table is a list of attributes. The first column is the official name of the attribute. The second column is the unofficial name users may know from other games. The third is your rating. The fourth is the level value. The fifth is the operative value."

    Physical Power - Strenght - E - 2 - 4

    Physical Macro Control - Agility - D - 1 - 3

    Physical Micro Control - Dexterity - B - 6 - 7

    Physical Vigor - Vitality - D - 3 - 5

    Physical Regeneration - Health and Stamina Reg - E - 2 - 4

    Physical Defence - Toughness - E - 1 - 3

    Physical Perception - Sensory Awareness - B - 6 - 7

    Magical Power - Intelligence - F - 3 - 5

    Magical Macro Control - Modeling - S - 23 - 14

    Magical Micro Control - Intend - S - 24 - 15

    Magical Vigor - Mana - F - 24 - 15

    Magical Regeneration - Mana and Concentration Reg - F - 24 - 15

    Magical Defence - Resilience - F - 0 - 0

    Magical Perception - Spiritual Awareness - F - 0 - 0

    Table of derived attribute pools ( name - calculation - value ):

    Health - Operative Physical Vigor * 10 - 52

    Stamina - Operative Physical Controls * 10 - 103

    Mana-Pool - Operative Magical Vigor * 10 - 150

    Concentration - Operative Magical Controls * 10 - 291

    Official name Streetname R LV OV

    Physical Power Strenght E 2 4

    Physical Macro Control Agility D 1 3

    Physical Micro Control Dexterity B 6 7

    Physical Vigor Vitality D 3 5

    Physical Regeneration Health and Stamina Reg E 2 4

    Physical Defence Toughness E 1 3

    Physical Perception Sensory Awareness B 6 7

    Magical Power Intelligence F 3 5

    Magical Macro Control Modeling S 23 14

    Magical Micro Control Intend S 24 15

    Magical Vigor Mana F 24 15

    Magical Regeneration Mana and Conc Reg F 24 15

    Magical Defence Resilience F 0 0

    Magical Perception Spiritual Awareness F 0 0

    Table of derived attribute pools ( name calculation value ):

    Health Operative Physical Vigor * 10 52

    Stamina Operative Physical Controls * 10 103

    Mana-Pool Operative Magical Vigor * 10 150

    Concentration Operative Magical Controls * 10 291

    ''Agility 1! I will not be offended. Toughness E! I will not be offended. Perception B! I''m a big girl. Dexterity 6! I will not be offended. Intelligence 3?!! Where is my army of lawyers? I will sue the shit out of this dunce! He will be toast! Um, I mean, I''m not effing offended! And what the heck is this ''operative'' stuff? ''

    Flora exercised her breathing and swallowed the curses that she would love to throw at System.

    "We will postpone the discussion of attributes after the character creation." Flora decided, but then she had a thought. "Did my changes to the avatar influence the table?"

    "Yes."

    Flora rolled her eyes and urged him to elaborate.

    "The rating of physical vigor rose from E to D, and the value from 2 to 3."

    "Yes, baby!" Flora pumped her fist. "Now back to my avatar, I changed with my fancy magical model skills of 23. How do you rate the skull before and after the changes?"

    "C original, B in V0.1, S latest changes."

    "Yes, baby, part two!" She fist-pumped again, but then she noticed the still motionless V0.1. ''Let''s look at that beauty.''

    She inspected the avatar layer by layer and found no internal bleeding.

    "System, resume the jumping jack animation. Pause the animation before defeat and let, um, whatsit regenerate, then continue the animation and repeat."

    "Stamina."

    Flora nodded. She copied V0.1 and gave it a V0.11 shirt. After that, she transferred the changes of the skull and tested the avatar. ''My head feels a bit heavier, but it could be my imagination.''

    She proceeded with the modification of the skeleton. Every bone and cartilage got its material upgraded. After each significant step, she interluded a short test.

    Finally, she finished the skeleton and transferred the changes to avatar V0.17. Her workspace had gotten crowded. To tidy up, she deleted the jumping avatars V0.11 to V0.16 after checking them for injuries. Then she took a step back to look at her work.

    "What do you think, System?"

    "S"

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    "Not bad, but I believe I can do better." She smirked. "Now we play ''better or worse''. I will make changes and ask your opinion. Let''s save my spit. I will just ask ''And?'', then you will judge whether it is better or worse. If it is worse, you will reverse the changes by going to the last temporary save file. If it is better, you create a new temporary save file."

    First, she reinforced the back and the top of the head.

    "And?"

    "Better."

    Then she fused frontal, parietal, occipital, temporal, and sphenoid bones into one.

    "And?"

    "Worse." The System undid the fusion.

    So she went over every bone again, looking for ways to optimize them subtlely. If the shape of the bone was too flimsy, she reinforced it. If the cartilage was to thin, she thickened it. One rib she completely replaced just to test if her body would repel it. When the waggishness overcame her, she added an 11th finger or bone spikes on the arm. Luckily System reversed the more excentric changes.

    "Alright, System! Please rate the skeleton."

    "SS"

    "Yes, baby, part 3!" Flora did a little happy dance. She created V0.18 and tested it.

    Her movements were smooth, and her hump was gone. Now, she was sure, that she was heavier, but guessed that it would regulate itself when she added better muscles. The hours spent modifying her skeleton were worth it.

    After basking in the glory of a superior body, she opened the web browser to look up ligaments. She found out that the human body had over 900 ligaments. Her mood turned sharply.

    "System, is the time in the character creation restricted?"

    "No."

    "Please give me a comfy couch and a fluffy blanket. I''m gonna take a nap!"

 5 5. Engineering a Body - Ligaments, Muscles, and Tendons

    (A/N: Please help me naming the achievement for the longest time spent in character creation - Vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvXY96-6YeA)

    Of course, System refused to give Flora a couch and blanket.

    Flora looked around for things to use for comfort but found only bones and her jumping avatars.

    ''I could snuggle with my avatars, but the ground is still too hard. Maybe I can use their clothing?''

    The stubborn System refused to create T-shirts on the ground, but he didn''t vanish them when the avatars undressed. By carrying out a striptease marathon Flora and the avatar created a pile of cloth.

    Flora judged it sufficiently cozy but felt that she missed a chance not utilizing the avatars. ''When do you get the opportunity to command your own clone army?''

    So she fashioned a hammock out of the T-shirts and ordered her avatars to swing it gently. Also, she gave one avatar a shirt with a print with palm fronds to fan.

    Satisfied, she lay down to rest.

    The ringing of a phone woke her up.

    "I''m coming! I''m coming! Where is my phone?" Flora fumbled for her mobile until she realized that she was in the virtual world. She was proud that she noticed it so quickly and even managed not to fall off the hammock.

    "System, accept the call."

    "I''m in the game. Where are you, Ma?"

    "I''m creating my avatar, love. It''ll take a few more hours, maybe days?"

    "You are in there for five hours! Wait, with time dilation, it''s 10 hours! WTF are you doing?"

    "I changed the bones, and then I took a nap."

    "That makes a lot of sense. NOT!" Robby sighted.

    "Sarcasm in this shape is not sarcasm, but a concession that you know the truth rationally but choose to deny it due to emotional reasons." Flora had explained this to him many times. Maybe that was the reason he still used it. "Sweety, I will call you when I''m ready. Meanwhile, work on harmonizing your rationality and your emotions. Love you!"

    "Yes, Ma. I understand that you are scared. The virtual world is nice, though. Take your time. Bye-bye." He hung up.

    Flora chuckled. ''That little rascal thinks I need so long because I''m scared.'' She took a moment to go over her motives and feelings concerning the virtual world. Looking around and seeing her avatars, fanning her, doing jumping jacks, and swinging the hammock, she was extremely pleased.

    ''The real world is arguably a world based on mathematics. This world is unarguably one. Even the parts I don''t understand yet like this attributes stuff is quantified. I''m an engineer: I harness mathematics to prevail. I got this!''

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    Motivated, she checked the avatars for injuries. They were still fine.

    "System, show me the best ligaments, please include the bones they are attached." She scanned the model perfunctory.

    "System, color every ligament purple. Replace it with its natural color after I modified that corresponding ligament on my avatar." Flora thought that the main challenge was not to get confused by 900 small strings and miss some out.

    After she prepared her avatar and got the rating for her current ligaments (E), she requested System to aggregate a second model with the best ligament of the foot.

    Then she started to modify the ligaments of the avatars foot. Basically, she applied the same strategy as with the skeleton. She reinforced them, exchanged material, and fortified the connection with the bones.

    She slowly worked her way up the body and fell in a smooth rhythm of modifying, creating save files, testing, and checking the new jumping avatars.

    In no time, she reached the knee. She had trepidations about it because she had blown her ACL in the past and knew that the knee was the most complicated joint in the body. But the work on it went suspiciously easy, and there was less to change than she expected. Her avatar had a lot more ligament-like stuff than the model. The System explained to Flora that only the mayor ligaments were relevant to the game and therefore rated by it. That cleared her confusion, and she resumed work. After finishing, System gave the ligaments a satisfying SS rating.

    The significant next step consisted of muscles and tendons. Again, there was a discrepancy between the number of muscles and tendons on the model and the avatar. Also, the model was less bulky than Flora expected. When Flora inspected the muscles around the hipbone, she was relatively sure that they were part of the female anatomy.

    "System, do you rate the vaginal muscles?" Flora asked, perplexed.

    "Yes."

    "They are relevant to the game mechanics?"

    "Yes."

    "So, how do you rate my ... nevermind, I don''t want to know."

    Flora got the current rating for all the muscles and tendons of her avatar. Unsurprisingly, it was again an E.

    Then she experimented with the model. She requested from System the muscles with the best strength rating this bulked up the model significantly. Then she asked for the best endurance rating, and the projection changed to leaner muscles. She settled on a model with the best pound for pound power rating.

    This time, she didn''t just specify ''the best'' but optimized her requests for each body part.

    Robby has practiced martial arts since he was a preteen. So Flora attended a lot of competitions and martial arts gatherings. She noticed that the best fighters got strong wrists and hands. Flora needed the best fine motor skills for designing and optimized her hands for that. But she went full pound for pound strength on the wrist, arms, and legs. Her goal was not to look like she abused steroids, so she went with endurance on the neck and shoulders.

    After pondering too long about her looks, she realized that she was too old for vanity and that she should go with the best. In the real world, you can argue about what is best, but System ruled this world. Therefore System was the best judge.

    The resulting avatar V0.48 looked uncanny. Due to the thin papery skin, the muscles looked like hawsers under a bedsheet. But it felt great in the test. Flora couldn''t remember when she ever had been in that much control of her movements.

    Jumping Jacks, check!

    Sit-ups, check!

    Push-ups, check!

    Push-ups on the fingertips, check!

    She summarized the testing experience with two words: ''Smooth and powerful.''

    In her youth, Flora enjoyed going for hikes in the mountains. There she admired the climbers who could hang on a crevice with one hand and leisurely eat a cheese toast with the other one. Maybe the virtual reality had some lovely mountains, and she could pick up climbing?

    Flora would like to test pull-ups as well but lacked a bar. Suddenly she got an idea.

    "System, please aggregate the best fitness equipment for pull-ups."

    Two poles with a bar appeared.

    ''I''m so stupid.''

    "System, please generate the best coach, the fluffiest blanket, and most awesome titanium ingot."

    The workspace rapidly filled up with the requested goods.

    She grabbed the titanium and replaced the shin bone of her avatar with the metal.

    "And?"

    "Worse."

    "Alright, maybe to much weight?" Now, she just added a layer of titanium.

    "And?"

    "Worse."

    "System, please aggregate the best material to coat my bones with."

    A silver-blue ingot appeared.

    "So, what do we have here?" Flora inspected the metal, knocked on it, smelled it, and even licked it.

    The System explained that it was mithril and forced Flora to google additional information. She found out that mithril is a magical metal. It interfered less than other metals with magic and was even capable of being enchanted and storing magic. The interference of mithril was one operative value (OV) per 50 grams. That was pretty good compared to the other metals listed. Titanium was the worst with 10 OV per 10 grams, iron 5 OV, copper 4 OV per 10 grams. The precious metals fared better 5 OV for silver, 2 OV for platinum, and only 1 OV per 25 grams for gold.

    The website was helpful to Flora. She bookmarked it immediately.

    It provided links to ''operative value'' and ''level value''.

    Level value: Number that can be raised through training and leveling up.

    Operative value: Number that is calculated via a logarithmic function from the level value and modifiers. In nearly all game mechanics, the OV is used.

    Flora knew of logarithmic functions. They were the spoilsports of mathematics and produced diminishing returns. For example, if you learned an additional hour, you could raise your grade by one, from a D to C. If you want to increase the grade from C to B, you have to invest two additional hours, and from B to A, maybe even 5 hours. For the same increment in benefits, you had to spend more and more.

    On the website were even calculations on how the OV handicap influenced spells.

    Magic missiles:

    Basic damage: 10 DMG

    Skill level value 100 LV -> skill operative value 30 OV

    Magical power attribute level value 100 LV -> attribute operative value 30 OV

    Metal handicap: 5 OV

    DMG = basic DMG + skill OV + attribute OV - handicap OV

    65 = 10 + 30 + 30 - 5

    The spell magic missiles may hit for up to 65 damage.

    (Without milestone bonus, placement, perks, control, and weapon damage)

    ''Alright, I summarize: OV robs the players'' hard work, and metal handicap hurts magic. So should I use mithril at all?''

    Flora decided yes. Why? Because it was free of charge!

    ''I find a way to scrub it of my bones if it sucks. Let''s go less than 1 OV, 20 grams.'' She went to work.

    This time system approved of her using the metal as a protective layer coating for her parts of her head, collarbones, shoulder blades, sternum, elbows, knees, shins, forearms, and knuckles.

    She noticed no change in the test, but hoped, that people who were stupid enough to hit her would feel the difference.

    When she finished, a big blue box with white text obstructed her vision: "Notification: Exploit detected. Please wait for the arrival of the Administrator."

    The box vanished and was replaced by a guy with sunglasses, a shirt with "ADMIN" printed on the front, and a suit with animated matrix-like blue data streams.

    "Hello, Flora Fluss. I''m the Administrator."

 6 6. Engineering a Body - Blood and Organs

    "Hello, Mr. Administrator. May I offer you a cup of tea? Please sit down."

    Flora requested two nicest cups with the best tea and most classy plate of the most delicious cookies.

    "No, thank you. I prefer to get right to the business."

    "Sure, I''m German. That''s how we roll. But I tell you, you miss out. Those pastries are exquisite!" Flora said while munching a cookie.

    The Administrator ignored her. "Congratulations, following exploits were discovered by you:

    1. Access to the advanced workbench in the character creation

    2. Use of the statistical analytics feature to enhance your avatar

    3. Use of the statistical analytics feature to circumvent the material selection restriction

    You earned 300 VirDias for disclosing those exploits."

    "When did I disclose them? Never mind, big bro System is watching. How much are 300 VirDias in Euro?"

    "29.23 Euros."

    "A burger and a coke, not bad. I will try to discover more exploits!"

    "Thank you for your cooperation, but VirDias can''t be exchanged for food. This currency is exclusively used in the Cetviwos-Shop."

    Flora sighed. "Every time I ask you, the Cetviwos AIs, a question either you are not allowed to answer, or I have more questions after listening to the answer."

    "How did you know that I was an AI? I passed several Turing-Tests."

    "You gave the Euro exchange rate with decimal places, but more importantly, you aren''t tempted by cookies." Flora took another one. They were otherworldly good.

    Admin nodded.

    "Back to the topic at hand. The developing team decided on following actions to close the exploits:

    1. The advanced workbench will be no longer available in character creation but will be still available in character modification. As an additional reward, you are allowed to continue using it for character creation.

    2. The tools of the advanced workbench and users can''t interact with the models of the statistical analytics feature. As an additional reward, the changes to your avatar are not reversed.

    Please vacate the couch because it will be dematerialized."

    "I take back that I''ll help you find more exploits!" Flora hurriedly ate the last cookie. "Okay, maybe not. That''s like saying I won''t earn any money because I don''t like paying taxes."

    "Please recognize that your access to statistical analytics was only granted because of your involvement with the alpha-testing of the brain-wave technology."

    "About that, I think you own me an explanation. My son told me that you used my toaster design for the game." Flora thought about this for a while. Her intuition told her that there was money to be made.

    "The alpha-testing contract stated that we could use submitted designs for further projects."

    "I wouldn''t be too sure that this argument will hold up in front of a court."

    Administrator nodded. "Our lawyers will contact you in the next days. I''m sure we can reach an agreement without involving the legal system."

    Flora nodded aswell. She was not inclined to waste the precious time left of her life in courthouses. But if she could get a few benefits out of this without much hustle, why not.

    Gracefully, Flora stood up and watched the couch shimmering. It now looked a bit like a high-quality hologram. After dematerializing all the aggregated models System had created, Administrator said his farewell and left the workspace.

    ''So, where were we? Let''s check what we got so far!''

    Now System rated the skeleton with a whooping SSS, the ligaments SS, the tendons SS and the muscles SS too.

    ''A really nice start. It will get more difficult, but at least the foundation is solid.''

    After preparing her avatar and getting a now glittering model of the best blood circuit, Flora asked for the current rating.

    "C." answered the System.

    "That''s significantly better than the other initial ratings. Maybe because the heart is also part of the circulation of blood, and I already improved it, because it is a muscle?"

    The model also showed the lungs, so Flora amended the avatar. She knew that the lungs accumulate dirt over the years. Therefore her first step was to get rid of the muck. That proved to be more difficult than she thought. She selected a particle that looked like it didn''t belong in the lung, expanded the selection to all alike particles, and deleted it. Then she watched her lungs collapse.

    "I guess, that wasn''t dirt," Flora said sheepishly. "System, reload the last save file. We are going to play ''better or worse'' again."

    Progress was slow and even got slower the longer Flora worked. After she ruptured the alveoli and bloodvessels three times in a row, Flora decided to take another nap.

    ''Only the heavens and maybe System know how much time I spend working!'' Judging her frayed concentration, she guessed that she used up more than 10 hours since her last nap. Maybe less, she wasn''t used to long hours anymore or maybe more, with age and experience her patience and steadiness had risen.

    After quickly checking her avatars, she sank into the hammock.

    Flora woke up hungry.

    "System, where or how can I get food?"

    "After you finished character creation, you will be ported to the Metaworld. Many big companies give out free food, and of course, there are thousands of restaurants, cafes, stalls, and food trucks where you can buy meals."

    "What about pizza delivery service to character creation?"

    "No."

    "Hey, I found a market gap!"

    "No."

    Flora was used to this reaction. It happened regularly when, in her opinion, she had a splendid idea.

    "Can I starve in character creation?"

    The big blue box appeared again: "Notification: Bug detected. Please wait for the arrival of the Administrator."

    A moment later, the Administrator replaced the box.

    "We meet again, Flora Fluss."

    "Yes, hi." Flora answered unenthusiastically.

    "Congratulations, following bug was discovered by you:

    - No implementation of respawn mechanics in character creation

    You earned 100 VirDias for disclosing this bug.

    As an additional reward, you get the trait ''Thorough digestion'' - The satiation meter will drop 50% slower."

    "So how long do I have until I die, and what happens when I die?" Flora still felt hungry, but to a lesser degree than before.

    "You have 42 hours and 28 minutes until you die. Because of the bug, your character would freeze, and you would be logged out until we will have fixed the bug. We would compensate you for missed playtime with 100 VirDias per day."

    "Alright, thank you. I try to hurry up."

    The Administrator gave her a long look that was impressively expressive for a sunglass-wearing AI. It screamed: 42 hours, and you need to hurry up? What happens when you slow down? Will the VR-technology still exist? Will planet earth even exist? What about the solar system?

    Flora went back to work. After finishing cleaning the alveoli and bloodvessel from dirt and plaque, she increased the number of alveoli until System said "worse".

    Then she researched blood vessels. The best should be flexible and smooth. She compared her avatar to the model and found a section in her buttocks, which looked good. (The vessels, not the booty)

    She propagated them through the rest of her body without issues. Although she had read that veins and arteries were different, System didn''t complain, so who was she to object.

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    The spleen happened to be interesting; the model showed smaller spleens attached to the main one. Flora''s avatar had one of those accessory spleens as well, so she copied it multiple times and added the copies to the primary spleen.

    She couldn''t do much but cleaning about the rest of the lymphatic system.

    Now System rated the circulatory system ''A''. Flora was out of ideas, but then she noticed that she had forgotten to change the blood itself and the bone marrow. Luckily she had swapped one whole rib with the model''s rib yesterday. So, Flora had an excellent and copy capable example of bone marrow. After transplanting the bone marrow, she tuned the blood cells to her best abilities. The System elevated the rating to ''S'', and Flora was happy.

    ''The digestive system organs are next on the chopping block. Uhm, I mean, workbench!''

    System rated it ''C'', which conformed to Flora''s experiences. She never had problems with organs of the upper body, but some kidney stones. Her research was not conclusive if the kidneys were even part of the digestive organs.

    So she just cleaned the stomach, the liver, and the kidneys and played around a bit with the gastric acid.

    The gallbladder, colons, bladder, and intestines were not rated. This gave Flora the idea of downsizing them. Now she had enough space to move the essential organs closer to the spine where they were more protected. As an unintentional, but welcome side-effect, it slimed down her waistline.

    The rectum was rated to her surprise. But then she remembered that System had evaluated the vaginal muscles as well and now she got an idea why.

 7 7. Engineering a Body - Nerves, Senses, and Skin

    (A/N: Double chapter-length because of promise in video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvXY96-6YeA)

    The System rated the organs of the upper body with an ''A''. And Flora decided that was good enough.

    The test went great, and the jumping avatars were still in shape.

    "This character creation stuff is jangling my nerves! I have to do something about it." Flora''s bad pun counter rose by one. "Please rate my nerves and aggregate a model."

    Flora was in the flow. She cleaned, reinforced, and polished the nerves and thickened the myelin layers.

    "Finished! Rate! Next, the brain! You know the drill, dear!"

    "The nervous system of the avatar is rated ''A''. The brain is not rated."

    "Thank the heavens! What about endocrine glands?"

    "Not rated."

    "Just as well!" Flora was pleased that she didn''t have to mess with her noggin and mood controls.

    "Sensory organs?"

    "Currently rated D."

    "Come on!"

    Flora discovered that she understood the eyes and ears better than the squishy parts she had worked on recently. There were parallels to the electronic sensor technic she could tie in.

    After the usual cleaning, smoothing, and fortifying, she began to experiment.

    First, she enlarged the eye and removed age-related deformations. The System wasn''t happy with radical changes but deemed a 5% increase in volume as better than before. Then she increased the density of the photoreceptors on the retina and the nerves tied to them.

    After that, she thickened the cornea and reworked the tissue for maximal transparency without losing its structural integrity. She cleaned the lens and fluids again with the highest zoom active and removed every particle that didn''t belong.

    The increasing pangs of hunger aggrieved her, but while she tested the avatar, they were gone. So she decided to stay in the avatar for the rest of her work. The ridiculously improved eyesight played another role in this decision. ''I never saw this well! I never looked so good!'' Her bad pun counter rose again.

    Next, she worked on the ear. She repeated the treatment of the eye fluids to the ear fluids. Then she increased the density of the hair cells.

    Flora didn''t improve the tactile sense, smell, and taste beyond the usual actions, but it was enough to get System to rate the sensory organs with ''S''.

    For testing the modified avatar, she had to switch back to the hungry original avatar. She was dehydrated, and her stomach cramped. After the test, she decided to take action.

    ''I can''t bear it, and I don''t have to! Let''s get freaky!''

    First, she copied the skull bones and formed a bowl. Then she filled it with blood and tears. She omitted the sweat with regret for the missed pun, but even she had her limits how far she was reaching just for a satisfying joke.

    Additionally, she lowered the sodium chloride level ¡ª no point in drinking salty beverages in her situation.

    ''Should I say a toast?'' She pondered while starring at the red liquid in the white skull.

    "Here''s to it, and from it, and to it again, and if I don''t do it when I get to it, I may not get to it to do it again! Prost!" With that, she downed the blood. She grimaced, it wasn''t as bad as she feared, but not good enough to tempt a repeat. But it worked, her hunger and thirst diminished.

    "How long until hunger death, System?"

    "41 hours and 54 minutes."

    "Alright, we proceed with the connective tissue."

    As Flora read about, she realized that she already fixed some of it, like tendons and ligaments, which explained why the System rated the connective tissue proper with ''C''.

    Over the years, her skin had visibly lost its elasticity. She figured that the connective tissues in non-visible places had suffered as well. Therefore she bolstered elasticity and resilience in the cells. For areas with a structure resembling the tendons and ligaments, she replaced the tissue with tissue from them.

    She focused on fat cells next, streamlining her body by removing some of the fat in female problem areas and adding fat in senior citizen problem areas like the skin.

    After a short nap, she worked on the skin. First, she removed liver spots, age spots, and whatever other spots she could find. Then she cleared away hair on places fashion dictated that females should not have hair. The System didn''t approve of this, but she did not care. Allowedly, she was tempted to go the other way and have a look at herself as a Yeti. But adding hair was a lot more complicated than removing it, as bald guys can confirm, and she was under time constraints.

    As with the blood vessels, she chose the best piece of skin, tuned it, and spread it. That worked well for most parts of her body, but her face looked horrible with lower back skin. ''Like an alien who did a bad job applying his human skin mask.''

    So she worked on her face manually. After her changes, she still looked like an older woman, but more like a well aging Hollywood star than the frail lady at the bus stop.

    Now System rated her skin an connective tissues with ''S'', but Flora still had the urge to increase the defense. ''The body creates calluses to protect itself, but they are ugly and furthermore lack flexibility.'' Her thoughts went over the different methods of animals protecting themselves. ''What about scales? I could mix my fingernails with mithril.''

    Flora remembered that she had built a box in the Yuan-Xianshi CAD-Software, which could fuse materials. She had played with it obsessively. Human waste was a major problem, so materials that can be recycled, composted, or at least burned without releasing toxins were a trending topic in the engineering community.

    The box was constructed using what she called ''magic chips''. The software had several premade chips that generated force fields or converted energy, solar to electrical, for example. She created a new chip, which married substances. Her favorite result was what she called the yin-yang wood, the child of obsidian and birch wood. The box didn''t synthesize materials in a reproducible way but generated matter with traits from the source materials like a child gets features from his parents. It could win the genetic lottery and get all the good stuff, or loose and have a harder life.

    When fusing obsidian and birch wood, Flora ended up with a bridle substance that broke just by looking at it too hard and in another try produced a material, that could be sharpened up to ridiculous degree and still had the flexibility of wood. Her enthusiasm was so big that she even designed the look of the tree. She called it yin-yang tree: the white bark of the birch covered the black trunk. The leaves looked like black crystals just with a hint of green. She made the annual rings white, which made the grain a mixture of darkness and light like ebony, but as ebony gets darker with age, the wood of the yin-yang tree would lighten.

    Flora had the habit of not only extensively creating save files but also storing them on external drives. The practice formed in the early times of the information age when the software crashed on a whim, and hard drives broke down regularly. She had 50 years of data in her cloud drive, among other things, the files of her Yuan-Xianshi projects.

    ''Please be compatible! Please, Admin, stay away!'' Flora prayed silently.

    One of her prayers worked.

    "Hello, Flora Fluss. We meet again."

    Flora cringed.

    The Administrator was back.

    After a short discussion, Flora was 100 VirDias richer, wasn''t allowed to use any of her saved materials, but got the fusion box approved. That''s all she wanted, but she still looked with longing at the peach file she had experimented with but since forgotten. Back then, she wanted to know if the virtual reality could emulate taste. It could not at the time.

    The fusion box was as magical as she remembered. She threw fingernails, toenails, and 30 grams of mithril in it, fused it, tested the material, got Systems opinion on it, and repeated the procedure until she had a great result.

    Flora formed scales as big as the nail of her tiny finger and as little as a grain of salt. She layered the skin above her heart, then continued down to her navel and up to the chin to protect her throat. Afterward, she covered places with major blood vessels close to the skin like the insides of her tights and forearms, including the wrist and the angles.

    ''Strengthen your strength and weaken your weakness.'' was one of Flora''s favorite proverbs. She had improved the weak spots of her body, but what about the other parts?

    The scales she used so far were silvery white with a greenish tinge. She dyed the rest in skin color and put them on the back of her shoulder, arms, and hands and the front of her legs.

    ''Am I finished?'' Flora took a step back and observed the avatar.

    "My teeth!" she exclaimed, fixed them, and went back to pondering.

    "System, can I restyle my hair in the game?"

    "Yes, but every change not made by character modification will reset upon respawn as a general rule." System answered.

    "I bet, the feature exists because of the women who said ''I would kill for an instant styling'' ". Flora''s bad pun counter rose again.

    Because she was one of these women, Flora started to beautify herself: she clipped her nails, plugged her eyebrows, styled her hair, and refreshed her make-up. She only wore a bit mascara when she boarded the pod, so she had to work with that.

    For the next few hours, she went over her whole body, perfecting and harmonizing it.

    "System, please tell me the overall standings of my body."

    "SS".

    "Now, I am finished!" Flora exclaimed happily. "At least with the physical part. We proceed to the magic next!"

    As soon as she finished the sentence, the Administrator appeared.

    "Hello, Flora Fluss. We meet again."

    "Yadidida! What''s wrong now?"

    "We believe that you are capable of modifying the magic structure of your avatar." Avatar started to explain.

    Flora nodded.

    "Regular users don''t have a magic structure. For them, it is created in the next step, the normalization of the attribute values. Unlike the physical attributes, which growth does not change the appearance of the avatar, the growth of the magical stats does."

    "One moment, please. Let''s add some pictures that I get this right." Flora interjected. "System aggregate a model of the users with the highest magical values. Make the physical body transparent and the magical stuff glowing."

    The model appeared. Glowing blue lines pervaded its body like blood vessels, converging in a pool beneath the navel. The most prominent lines, thick streams, reached from the pool to the hands.

    "Now show my avatar in the same way!"

    The difference could not be more pronounced. Under the navel were a tiny blue spot and a thin line going up to her head and an even lighter line to her right hand.

    "My attributes were around 25, right?" Flora didn''t count her low intelligence value. That must have been an error. "What are the average magical attribute values of the model?"

    "400" System answered. Flora noted that if an AI said 400, it meant precisely 400. So the even number must have a reason.

    "If you would adjust your magic system, the game logic would force us to adapt the attribute values. But that is forbidden. The game is designed with every user starting with precisely the same attributes." The Admin continued.

    "So it''s not a bug, but a design flaw." Flora mused. She knew all about design flaws and was ambivalent about them. On the one hand, she had compassion for making them, on the other hand, contempt.

    "We offer you the following compensation for refraining modification :

    1. 1000 VirDias

    2. Achievement ''SSS Magic'': Your talent for magic reigns supreme.

    - the highest talent factor in the training efficiency modifier for all magical stats

    - the highest talent factor in the training efficiency modifier for all mana skills

    - title ''Magical prodigy'': + 50% reputation gain with all beings and factions who value magic

    3. Achievement ''Frontrunner'': First person to reach a specific success.

    + 1000 fame."

    "The word ''offer'' sounds like I could reject it. What happens then?"

    "We let you try to modify your magic and see what will happen." The Administrator smiled condescendingly. "A part of the development council is looking forward to it."

    "I don''t care about fame and reputation. We Germans have a proverb ''Ist der Ruf erst ruiniert, lebt''s sich frei und ungeniert.'' That means: once the reputation is ruined, you will live free and without shame." Flora said slowly. "But that ''highest talent factor in the training efficiency'' sounds mildly interesting?"

    "The training efficiency is how fast you raise the level, in this case of the attributes and mana skills, through using them. It factors in the degree of difficulty and the rating of the subject. You will raise your agility faster when you do an obstacle course than jogging slowly. You will raise the ability ''climbing'' faster when you are in real life a mountain climber."

    "So skills are rated aswell? And how do you judge prior experiences? I haven''t filled out any survey about real life." Flora got a shocking idea. "Is it through mind-reading?"

    "We rate skills how well people perform them manually or half-manually in the game. Research shows, this depends on experience and talent."

    "What means ''manually'' in this context?"

    "You can execute skills manually, half-manually, or automated in the Cetviwos." The Administrator answered. "We can''t expect from our players that they are proficient in swordplay and magic. The automated mode lets the player decide what they want to do, and the AI executes the movement. In the half-automated mode, the AI only corrects or guides the players'' moves minimally. This is the standard modus operandi of the Cetviwos. Manuell mode means, there is no external interference of the AI."

    Flora tried to imagine how it would feel when an AI steered her movements. ''Maybe I will try it out, but not soon.''

    "System, please set all my skills to manual. The other modes freak me out."

    "How do you decide? Do you want to change the magic structure of the avatar, or do you take the offer?" The Administrator tried to lead Flora back to the topic.

    "Please, let me think about it for a moment."

    Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.

    ''What do I know now:

    Option 1 - the offer:

    1. Faster growth of attributes, skills, and reputation

    2. Fame

    3. Title

    Option 2 - modification

    1. A shitload of work hungry

    2. Attributes of 400 maximum. Without copying, I might not be able to replicate the mana structure perfectly.

    What do I need to know?

    1. How long does it take to train up to 400? -> If it''s fast, I profit more from the growth option.''

    2. Fame and titles, I might not care about them, but maybe they are important in the Cetviwos?''

    "System, what is the average length someone needs to train an attribute to 400?"

    "No data available."

    Flora raised her eyebrows. "300"

    "Because of privacy concerns, all data shown must incorporate at least 1000 individuals."

    "200"

    "5603 hours playtime."

    "Holy toaster! Please, give the value in real-world days."

    "668 days."

    "This seems long. I read that the game is less than two years old." Flora mused. "And how many players have managed to reach 200 in percent of the user base?"

    "Less than 0,1% reached an attribute value of 200 through training. 34,8% reached at least one attribute level value of 200 overall."

    "Right! There are other ways to raise attributes, as well!"

    The System explained that players get 3 Attribute Points every time they level up, and additionally, points can be gained from completing quests and accomplishing achievements.

    A value of 400 was a lot rarer than Flora expected. But the thought of spending several more days hungry in the monotonous environment of character creation trying to rebuild glowing lines, she knew nothing about, didn''t appeal to her.

    Additionally, retaining what you haven''t earned honestly is hard. For instance, the lottery millionaires, most of them lost their prize money fast. If the Admin had offered money, she would take the growth option without questions.

    ''Time to use the ''phone a friend'' lifeline.'' She called her son.

    "Hey, Ma! At last ready to rumble?'' Robby cheerfully answered the call.

    "That depends on your answer to my next question, sweety," Flora said wryly. She told him the two options. "So, what should I take?"

    "Shit! Ma! That''s great! With 400 in all magic attributes, you one-hit everything below level 25! Take that!" Robby exclaimed. "And if you are even a half-decent player, your endgame build could rule the game!"

    "Can you loose attribute points?" Flora still wasn''t convinced.

    "Well, yes. But only on rare occasions beneath level 250." Robby''s voice lost much of its enthusiasm. "There is a rumor about a guy who stole the experience of a spell to raise his skill level significantly. He lost all the skill levels and additional levels in other spells in a unique quest not long after. The game is far from balanced, but now and then, karma strikes."

    "So, the second offer looks now better?"

    "No. No risk, no fun! Go for the stats! The second offer is not bad, though. Grinding for reputation is a bitch, and I spend hours hitting dummies for skill XP. But mana skills and attributes can be raised by the free points you get from leveling up. However, it is really bothersome to train affinities and resistances."

    "I didn''t raise you like this. Stop hitting dummies! That''s barbaric! Intelligence is mostly hereditary. You shouldn''t hit stupid folks!" Flora was appalled.

    Robby stared at her, but then laughed. "Dummies like in the word crash-test dummies. They are non-living targets you can use for training! Epic misunderstanding, Ma!"

    Because Robby couldn''t stop laughing, he wasn''t able to consult her anymore. Therefore Flora bid him farewell.

    "Alright, Mr. Administrator, if you add some affinities, I''ll take your offer." Flora had no glue what affinities were but trusted her son about them. She disregarded his ''no risk, no fun'' recommendation because that''s the way young man roll, old woman prefer security and growth.

    After a moment, the Administrator showed her the amended offer.

    1. 1000 VirDias

    2. Achievement ''Supreme Magic'': Your talent for magic reigns supreme.

    - the highest talent factor in the training efficiency modifier for all magical stats

    - the highest talent factor in the training efficiency modifier for all mana skills

    - title ''Magical prodigy'': + 50% reputation gain with all beings and factions who value magic

    3. Achievement ''Frontrunner'': First person to reach a specific success.

    + 1000 fame

    4. Achievement ''Founding Mother of Psychokinesis'':

    - SSS rating for psychokinesis

    - + 5 OV to affinity/resistance psychokinesis

    5. Achievement ''Founding Mother of Transformation'':

    - SSS rating for transformation

    - + 5 OV to affinity/resistance transformation

    "I take the offer," Flora said. "But please explain how I can get an SSS rating through an achievement. That doesn''t conform to my understanding of your previous explanation."

    "Haha, busted!" a female voice came from the background.

    "You would have gotten the rating in either case, because you used the transformation of materials and psychokinesis for years in the CAD-System." The Administrator explained. "But now you got an additional achievement for it."

    Because Flora had already accepted the offer, there wasn''t much she could do about it. Additionally, all the new terms and concepts had trained her energy and concentration.

    "Let''s proceed!"

    Her avatars and the Administrator vanished, and her body transformed into her latest save-file. She instantly felt less hungry and more energized but still mentally exhausted.

    "Please say or think ''Stats'' or ''Attributes''."

    Flora did it, and a window appeared in front of her.

    Physical attributes

    Level Value/Mods/Modded LV/Operativ Value/Mods/Modded OV

    Power|10|0|10|9,5|0|9,5

    Macro control|10|0|10|9,5|0|9,5

    Micro control| 10|0|10|9,5|0|9,5

    Vigor|10|0|10|9,5|0|9,5

    Regeneration| 10|0|10|9,5|0|9,5

    Defence|10|0|10|9,5|0|9,5

    Perception|10|0|10|9,5|0|9,5

    Magical attributes

    Level Value/Mods/Modded LV/Operativ Value/Mods/Modded OV

    Power|10|0|10|9,5|0|9,5

    Macro control|10|0|10|9,5|0|9,5

    Micro control| 10|0|10|9,5|0|9,5

    Vigor|10|0|10|9,5|0|9,5

    Regeneration| 10|0|10|9,5|0|9,5

    Defence|10|0|10|9,5|0|9,5

    Perception|10|0|10|9,5|0|9,5

    Pool attributes

    OV Mods Modded OV

    Health-Pool|95|0|95

    Stamina-Pool|190|0|190

    Mana-Pool|95|0|95

    Concentration-Poo|190| 0|190

    "Following identity-related modifications are available:

    Female:

    - + 2 LV to physical micro-control

    - + 2 LV to physical regeneration

    - - 2 LV to physical power

    - - 2 LV to physical resistance

    Older:

    - + 2 LV to all magical attributes

    - - 2 LV to all physical attributes

    Please choose."

    Of course, Flora tested them first. She did ten push-ups without the mods and ten with them. She felt no difference, neither in her magic. But to her astonishment, she did sense something beneath her navel. ''Is this my magic? I will experiment later when I can take notes. Back to the matter at hand: Is it better to have uniform values or divergent stats?''

    She found useful information on the same page she read about the metal handicap:

    Attribute Training - Attribute rated B, regular Training

    ( We do not own Cetviwos, all our data is guestimated )

    LV from | LV to | In hours

    1 | 25 | 20

    25 | 50 | 123

    50 | 100 | 745

    100 | 200 | 3987

    200 | 250 | 3742

    250 | 400 | 32450

    She concluded that it was better to mix the values, because it took less time to bring physical macro-control from 8 to 10, than physical micro-control from 10 to 12.

    "I take both modifications."

    "Please distribute 10 free attribute points."

    "Can I store them and do it in a few weeks?"

    "No."

    "Put them all to physical regeneration." ''There is no reason to think this matter over. The ten points are wasted. At least with higher regeneration, I can train more right from the start.''

    "Congratulations, you finished your avatar! Please enjoy your visits to the Cetviwos!"

    A gateway appeared shimmering in rainbow colors.

    After messaging Robby that he could pick her up, Flora took a deep breath and stepped through the portal.

    She didn''t hear the collective sighs of relief of the Administrator and a monitoring room full of developers, AI handlers, and managers.

 8 8. Welcome to the Metaworld

    8. Welcome to the Metaworld

    Piercing screams, music from multiple loudspeakers, blinking lights, limelights, and holograms assaulted Flora''s senses.

    The welcome square was chaos! The difference between the monotonous environment of the character creation and the lively plaza couldn''t be more pronounced. Flora needed dozens of seconds before she could distinguish the sources, or better the perpetrators, of all that noise.

    She stood on a plaza diamond-shaped plaza gaping at the spectacle. To the left and right vehicles flowed beside it. Cars and motorcycles, both driving and flying, a chariot towed by flaming flamingos, a rhino with a tent on top, and a tricycle with jet propulsion were racing each other. The tricycle seemed to be winning.

    On the plaza mimes, fire-breathers and acrobats competed for the attention of the crowd. Vendors hawked their wares, and announcers attempted to outscream each other.

    Flora''s vision zeroed in on a hot-dog stall. She was still starving, which puzzled her. ''Should the hunger have gone away when switching to the avatar? Maybe it wasn''t a switch but more a merge?''

    Those thoughts went away when she reached the stand.

    "Hello! I''m new, and I don''t know if I have money, but I would love to have something to eat!" Flora said, smiling to the vendor.

    The sales lady was used to newbies and guided Flora to her inventory, which was empty except for a blow torch, a hair clip, and the fusion box. Only then she remembered that she had an inventory in the CAD-System aswell.

    "That''s unusual; normally everybody gets 100 VirDos as a welcoming gift. I''m sorry, dear, no money, no hot-dog."

    ''I guess my inventory didn''t get changed. I have to ask Robby what else I haven''t received.''

    Flora sighed and walked to a bench to wait for Robby.

    It took Flora a while to realize that the furiously blinking circle in her lower vision was the notification icon and not from an external source.

    In the CAD system, she had set the notifications so that only those with the highest priority were immediately displayed, such as error messages. It seemed that her old settings were still working. She didn''t notice it when the Admin threw blue windows at her, but they had been in the transparency setting she preferred. Who liked a blue wall in front of their face? If she remembered right, setting the transparency to 33% was one of her first actions in the CAD System.

    ''Long time no see, button. What''s up?''

    ----------

    You gained an Achievement: ''Supreme Magic'': Your talent for magic reigns supreme.

    - the highest talent factor in the training efficiency modifier for all magical stats

    - the highest talent factor in the training efficiency modifier for all mana skills

    - title ''Magical prodigy'': + 50% reputation gain with all beings and factions who value magic

    ----------

    You gained an Achievement: ''Frontrunner'': the first person to reach a specific success.

    - + 1000 fame

    ----------

    You gained an Achievement: ''Founding Mother of Psychokinesis'': the first person to use psychokinesis.

    - SSS rating for psychokinesis

    - + 5 OV to affinity/resistance psychokinesis

    ----------

    You gained an Achievement: ''Founding Mother of Transformation'': the first person to use transformation.

    - SSS rating for transformation

    - + 5 OV to affinity/resistance transformation

    ----------

    Those were the achievements of the Admin''s offer. But the icon was still blinking, so there had to be more.

    ----------

    You gained an Achievement: ''Body modification: Bones'': Your skeleton was improved.

    - + 1 OV to physical resistance

    ----------

    You gained an Achievement: ''Magical body modification: Bones'': Your skeleton was improved.

    - + 1 OV to magical resistance

    ----------

    You gained a Trait: ''Thorough digestion'' - The satiation meter will drop 50% slower.

    ----------

    You gained an Achievement: ''Blood cleaning'': Your blood was cleaned.

    - + 1 OV to affinity/resistance blood magic

    ----------

    You gained an Achievement: ''Body modification: Eye'': Your eye was improved.

    - + 1 OV to physical perception regarding sight

    ----------

    You gained an Achievement: ''Body modification: Ear'': Your ear was improved.

    - + 1 OV to physical perception regarding hearing

    ----------

    You gained an Achievement: ''Body modification: Skin'': Your skin was improved.

    - + 1 OV to physical resistance

    ----------

    You gained an Achievement: ''Magical body modification: Skin'': Your skin was improved.

    - + 1 OV to magical resistance

    ----------

    You gained an Achievement: ''Superb Body'': Your body is made exceptionally well.

    - the highest talent factor in the training efficiency modifier for all physical stats

    ----------

    You gained an Achievement: ''Magical Body'': Your body is reinforced by magic.

    - unarmed combat attacks count as spiritual attacks

    ----------

    You gained an Achievement: ''Born into a new world doesn''t mean it should take nine months'': You spend an ungodly amount of time in character creation.

    - Training gains of your avatars are added to your stats

    ----------

    Flora laughed at the last one. ''Alrighty, what do my attributes now look like?''

    Physical

    | Level Value | Mods | Modded LV | Operativ Value | Mods | Modded OV

    Power | 36 | 0 | 39,6 | 18,9 | 0 | 19

    Macro control | 56 | 0 | 61,6 | 23,5 | 0 | 24

    Micro control | 49 | 0 | 53,9 | 22 | 0 | 22

    Vigor | 11 | 0 | 11 | 9,9 | 1 | 11

    Regeneration | 78 | 0 | 85,8 | 27,8 | 0 | 28

    Defence | 11 | 0 | 12 | 10,4 | 2 | 12

    Perception | 31 | 0 | 34,1 | 17,5 | 0 | 18

    Magical

    | Level Value | Mods | Modded LV | Operativ Value | Mods | Modded OV

    Power | 18 | 0 | 18 | 12,7 | 0 | 13

    Macro control | 21 | 0 | 21 | 13,7 | 0 | 14

    Micro control | 25 | 0 | 27,5 | 15,7 | 0 | 16

    Vigor | 28 | 0 | 30,8 | 16,6 | 0 | 17

    Regeneration | 28 | 0 | 30,8 | 16,6 | 0 | 17

    Defence | 12 | 0 | 12 | 10,4 | 2 | 12

    Perception | 12 | 0 | 12 | 10,4 | 0 | 10

    Pool

    | OV | Mods | Modded OV |

    Health | 110 | 0 | 110 |

    Stamina | 470 | 0 | 470 |

    Mana-Pool | 170 | 0 | 170 |

    Concentration | 300 | 0 | 300 |

    ''Wow, physical reg exploded to a level value of 78! No wonder with all the avatars jumping!

    Both defenses are still low, but I did not lose health often, so no wonder. Magical power rose slower than the controls, maybe because I did no heavy lifting?

    And where is the 10% increase from LV to modded LV coming from at some of the attributes?''

    The notification icon was still blinking, so Flora continued viewing the messages.

    ---------

    You gained the Affinity/Resistance: ''Psychokinesis'' + 27 Levels

    ---------

    You gained the Affinity/Resistance: ''Transformation'' + 27 Levels

    ---------

    You gained the Affinity/Resistance: ''Bloodmagic''

    ---------

    You gained the Skill: ''Telekinesis'' + 52 Levels

    ---------

    You gained the Skill: ''Magical Push'' + 28 Levels

    ---------

    You gained the Skill: ''Magical Pull'' + 27 Levels

    ---------

    You gained the Skill: ''Transform organics'' + 53 Levels

    ---------

    You gained the Skill: ''Transform inorganics'' + 13 Levels

    ---------

    You gained the Ability: ''Mechanics'' + 20 Levels

    ---------

    You gained the Ability: ''Athletics'' + 47 Levels

    ---------

    You gained the Ability: ''Modelling and Design'' + 39 Levels

    ---------

    You gained the Ability: ''Medical Science'' + 31 Levels

    ---------

    You gained the Ability: ''Negotiation'' + 2 Levels

    ---------

    Finally, Flora''s HUD was free of icons.

    Flora opened a browser window.

    ''Time to research! What is an affinity/resistance?''

    An affinity is an indicator of how much the player is in tune with the subject. The resistance has the same value as the affinity and represents how much the player ist protected from this force. The value effects skill variations.

    ''Got half of it, if someone wants to throw me out of a window using telekinesis, they will have a harder time. Let''s ignore the variation stuff.

    What is a skill?''

    A skill is an ability that costs mana. Skills are classified by their category (example: magic skills are called spells) or by their type of mana cost (example: whirlwind is a mana channeled skill ).

    ''So the faster learning achievement I got, counts for all skills? Or are mana skills special skills?''

    She skimmed through the information and concluded that it counted for all skills.

    ''What are abilities?''

    An ability is a skill that costs no mana.

    Flora continued clicking through the linked information, but already she felt more confident.

    "Hey, you look like a classy lady." A green-skinned guy wearing trenchcoat approached Flora. "C''mere."

    "Who, me?" Flora looked around.

    "Right."

    Flora grinned. She loved classic scams, and this guy''s appearance screamed, "Swindler!".

    "What do you sell?" she asked curiously.

    "Ssh!" He checked their surroundings. "There are ways to get something, you know what, into the VR. And I know them all."

    "I can''t conceive what you are telling me. Is this about money?"

    "Ssh!" He whispered. "Right. You want it?"

    "Sure, but I prefer some food at the moment," Flora smirked. "What about you buy me a hot-dog, and we can talk business afterward."

    "With my method, you can buy all the hot-dogs in the world, lady."

    They argued back and forth, but Flora insisted that she was too hungry to make business decisions. Finally, the salesman gave in and bought her falafels at a nearby food stall.

    When Flora happily started munching, Robby found her.

    "Ma! What are you doing with this sleazy gold seller?" he exclaimed.

    "Yes, I know, don''t take food from strangers. But it was an emergency."

    "Hey, bud! I''m doing business with this lady."

    Robby pointed his finger at the guy and said: "Ignore player Lefty Salesman4591! Ma, do the same!"

    Flora was amused but repeated the sentence dutifully. Lefty vanished!

    "Burned toast and stale marmalade! That''s amazing! Is he now invisible? What if he robs me of my falafels? He paid for them, you know."

    "He isn''t able to interact with you in blue zones. Please don''t speak with hoodlums anymore! We talked about this when you fell for the Nigerian Prince scam!"

    A month ago she gave a Nigerian prince 1000 Euros. He desperately needed to fly to Switzerland to access his massive inheritance. Flora rewarded him for using that old fraud in 2051. ''Know your history, and you may surpass it.''

    Of course, Robby wasn''t a fan of her giving money to swindlers.

    Flora nodded like the well-behaved senior citizen she aspired to be but was distracted by Robby''s attire.

    "Why are you wearing harem pants? Are you role-playing?"

    Apart from the pants, he wore only a cape and gold trim. Admittedly, the gold looked cute with his bare brown chest.

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    "I''m a monk."

    "That explains so much. Like my lack of grandchildren!" She would have guessed eunuch and was quite happy with a monk. At least a profession was reversible!

    "So, did you get the imba 400 stats?" Robby changed the subject wisely.

    "No, I went for the growth option."

    "Nooooo! Ma! How could you?" Robby groaned. "Did you invest your ten free points into physical reg or perception?"

    "Yes, into regeneration!" Flora perked up. "So that was a good choice, right?"

    "No! Ma! I listed the worst stats!" Robby shook his head, and Flora futilely hoped that he had used irony again.

    "You could have warned me ..."

    "Alright, let me warn you about a few things. There are a lot of scammers in Cetviwos! VirDos and Credits are incredibly sought after commodities." Robby started to explain but was interrupted by Flora''s laughter.

    "Really, weirdos are valuable? I''m going to be rich!" she exclaimed.

    "VirDos, Ma! Virtual Dollars!" He sighed. "German ears ..."

    "Oh, now the comment of the hot-dog vendor makes more sense! So, where do I get those?"

    "At the bank. Do you know how to beam?"

    "Like ''Beam me up, Scotty''?"

    "Yes. It''s a fast way of traveling in the Metaworld." Robby made his ''this is serious'' face. "It''s easy to *bleep* this up. So I will explain it slowly. First, you say a start phrase, then tell the destination, then you finish the command with an end phrase. Like GOTO Central Bank TOGO, then you will be whisked away."

    Flora nodded, and Robby wrote down on a paper: "BLEAMTO Central Bank TOBLEAM."

    Flora repeated it a few times in her head. ''I got this. BLEAMTO Central Bank TOBLEAM. BLEAMTO Central Bank TOBLEAM. BLEAMTO Central Bank TOBLEAM.''

    "I''m going for it now! BLEAMTO Central Bank ... " just at this instant, a piano fell from the sky on Robby. "Robby!" The piano vanished, and Flora knew she botched it up, but her mouth finished on auto-pilot: "TOBLEAM."

    Robby turned to the hysterically laughing paladin, who activated the visual effect. "Are you proud of what you have done, Hub? I quarter you if anything happens to my mother!"

    "Relax, Bro! Just a little prank, what''s the worst that can happen?"

    "And now you even jinxed it! Let''s go after her!"

 9 9. Central Bank Robby

    Flora felt as if someone seized her nose and pulled her through a tornado by it. Before she could analyze what was happening, it was already over, and she found herself in a warehouse.

    While she oriented herself, a blue box appeared:

    You entered the scenario ''Central Bank Robbery''.

    This scenario was not started by your party.

    You may choose one quest option.

    Option 1: Quest ''Join the CB robbery'':

    Join the main party and raid the Central Bank.

    Difficulty: A

    Possible rewards: Fame and fortune

    Possible penalties: Reputation loss with CB, prison time

    Option 2: Quest ''Law and Order CB'':

    Prevent the heist and apprehend the gangsters.

    Difficulty: A

    Possible rewards: Reputation gain with CB, Money

    Possible penalties: Nothing, getting implicated in the Crime (see above)

    ''Oh, no, no, no, no, no! I want money from the bank but not like this. How can I exit?''

    "BLEAMTO Central Bank TOBLEAM!"

    "This zone doesn''t support beaming."

    "Exit scenario!"

    Nothing happened.

    "Abort mission!"

    The doors of a black minivan opened and four people ran towards her. One even pointed a small gun at her. Flora held up her hands reflexively.

    "What are you doing here?" the tallest of them, a black-haired guy with a Mediterranean complexion, yelled in a french accent.

    "Well, it was an accident." Flora was out of her depth on how to explain the situation. Therefore she kept it simple. "A piano fell on my son."

    "Let''s shoot her!" a wiry guy yelled. His twitchy gun hand made Flora nervous.

    "Don''t be *bleep*ing stupid, *bleep*head!" hissed a blond woman with arching eyebrows. "When she respawns, she will call the cops on us!"

    "And whose fault is she ever landed here?" the twitchy guy interjected. "Didn''t Chef tell you to change the scenario name to something unique?"

    "Central Bank Robby instead of Central Bank Robbery is pretty unique!" Mrs. Bitchy snapped back.

    Mr. Twitchy and Mrs. Bitchy had french accents aswell.

    "I choose Option 2," Flora said. ''Because I must stop all Frenchman, I mean robbers, I must stop all robbers!''.

    "What option two?" the tall one asked.

    "You will let me go, of course!" Flora improvised. "I don''t know your names, so I have nothing to tell the police. I don''t even have a mobile to call them.''

    "Can''t you read?" the chubby fourth girl asked, chewing gum. She pointed on her massive chest, where a badge was attached.

    Flora focused on the badge.

    Nickname: Bubble-Gum Bubble-Fairy

    Level: 2

    Class: Driver

    Clan: StrikerDesHauteurs

    "Oh, thanks, that''s helpful." Then Flora checked the other badges, and the gang continued berating each other.

    Mrs. Bitchy:

    Nickname: Violoniste DeDestruction

    Level: 3

    Class: Robber

    Clan: StrikerDesHauteurs

    Mr. Twitchy:

    Nickname: Couteau DeLHorreur

    Level: 2

    Class: Thief

    Clan: StrikerDesHauteurs

    Mr. Boss:

    Nickname: Chef DesT¨¦n¨¨bres

    Level: 3

    Class: Shock Trooper

    Clan: StrikerDesHauteurs

    Rating: A

    Herself:

    Real name: Flora Fluss

    Nickname: Flowing Flowers

    Level: 1

    Class: none

    Clan: none

    Rating: F

    ''System, can you hear me?'' Flora sent her thoughts out.

    System to Flowing Flowers: "Yes."

    Flowing Flowers to System: "Hide my real name, please."

    Flora checked again. It had worked.

    Flowing Flowers to System: "Please tell me how to exit the scenario."

    System to Flowing Flowers: "You have expended your daily limit of system requests. Please raise your limit in the Cetviwos-Shop."

    Flowing Flowers to System: "Are you kidding me?!?"

    System to Flowing Flowers: "No."

    "Stop that clamor!" Chef said, interrupting his colleagues. "We take her with us."

    In no time, Flora''s hands and feet were bound, and Mr. Twitchy threw her with great effort into the back area of the van. Mr. Chef and Bubble Fairy took the front seats, and Mr. Twitchy and Mrs. Bitchy joined her in the back.

    Flora was disgusted by their amateurishness. They used shoelaces as bonds, and it would be much easier to let her enter the van by herself and then shackle her. She did not doubt that her 36 LV strength could win against the thin laces. Furthermore, she had a blowtorch in her inventory. ''I just need an opportunity.''

    Carefully, she memorized the location of her adversaries. Mrs. Bitchy sat to her right on the floor, leaning against the van and playing with a handheld device. Mr. Twitchy starred at her from the left, whirling the gun in his fingers. He had abysmal control and regularly dropped it, which prompted curses from Mrs. Bitchy. In the front seats, Bubble Fairy and Chef discussed something about escape routes.

    Suddenly a blue box appeared.

    ---------

    RadGlory Flow invites you to his party.

    Do you want to join?

    (Y/N)

    ---------

    ''That unfilial son of mine wants to throw a party when his mother gets abducted? Does he want to toast to my misfortune? What have I done wrong?!?'' Flora furiously declined the invitation. The box vanished, but a second later, it reappeared.

    ---------

    RadGlory Flow invites you to his party.

    Do you want to join?

    (Y/N)

    ---------

    Flora forced herself to cool down because Mr. Twitchy had noticed her agitation and pointed his gun at her again.

    ''Maybe it''s a rescue party? I should give my son a chance to explain himself.'' This time she chose ''Yes''.

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    RadGlory Flow to Party: "Don''t say anything out loud, Ma! Just think very hard with the intention to broadcast it to the party."

    Flowing Flowers to Party: "I don''t know if I want to speak to you at the moment, let alone think to you!"

    RadGlory Flow to Party: "It''s all Hub''s fault!"

    RadBear Stone to Party: "Sorry, Auntie Flo! But the falling piano was kind of funny, right? Would you have preferred an anvil?"

    Flowing Flowers to Party: "Okay, the prank was amusing, but why do you want to throw a party of all things? Please tell me how I can beam away instead of celebrating my bad luck!"

    The chat was silent, but Flora could hear muffled laughter outside. She started coughing to cover it up. ''Imbeciles surround me! The Chef-guy seams to be the only half-competent person.''

    "*Bleep*! There''s someone else in the warehouse!" Chef said and left the car in a hurry. "Guard the captive! Bubble, and I will check the surroundings."

    Mrs. Bitchy stood up to look through the window at the tailgate, which turned her back towards Flora.

    ''That''s my chance!''

    Flora focussed on Mr. Twitchy''s gun and fetched it via telekinesis. She sprang up, ripping her bonds and aimed for Mrs. Bitchy''s head with the butt of the weapon. The woman heard her and turned, but Flora still managed to hit the side of the head, which turned out to be enough to drop her.

    Mr. Twitchy had sprung up as well and lunged at Flora. This caused her to panic. She couldn''t commit to shooting a human and froze. Fortunately, her instincts took up the slack, and as soon as Mr. Twitchy was in reach, she headbutted him. Mithril reinforced bones meet normal bones, and the former won.

    Flora took a step back. Her head was spinning from the rapid events and possibly the headbutt. Frantically, she watched the two downed robbers. As soon as one of them tried to move, she smashed their heads with the gun again.

    Now she noticed fighting sounds from outside. Of course, she wanted to rescue her son and maybe Hub from Mr. Chef and the Bubble Fairy but thought it would help them more if she prevented her two robbers from joining the fight by keeping an eye and a gun on them.

    Flowing Flowers to Party: "Are you alright, darling?"

    RadGlory Flow to Party: "You are asking ME? Of course, I am, what about you?!?"

    When Robby answered her, adrenalin drained away, and she realized that she was not okay.

    The tailgate opened, and Robby looked into the van. Immediately she rushed in his arms and started sobbing.

    "It was so horrible, sweety. I nearly shot them! I''m not a violent person! And I DID smash their heads!"

    "It''s fine, Ma. It''s just a game. They can do nothing to harm you!" He padded her back.

    "I''m not speaking about them hurting me! What do I care about some Frenchman, I mean criminals!" After letting Robby go, she looked him in the eyes. "I''m a Killer! I did this and this and then this ..." She reenacted the fight by swishing her arms and head. "And then they dropped! But I didn''t stop!"

    "Ma ..."

    "I''ve got killing instincts!"

    "Ma."

    "Am I a danger to society?"

    "Ma!"

    "Video games lead to violence! I experienced it myself! We have to stop playing! We have to go out and plug some flowers and sing happy songs! No, that kills the flowers! We have to plant some trees, and you have to sire kids to compensate for all the killing!"

    Robby facepalmed. "I need some help here, Hub!"

    The chubby blond knight had rounded up the robbers and shackled them to the bumper. "I''m doing all the work, why do you think that you are the one needing assistance! But, sure, you''re my best bro, I will always help you! So how can I lend you a hand?"

    "Help me placate my mother!"

    "Oh, sorry, I''m busy." Hub smiled apologetically and turned around fast to recheck the bonds.

    Robby saw that his mother was lost in her thoughts and called the police. Flora used this time to get a grip on her emotions and was ready to ask Robby about the party.

    He explained to her that a party was a group of players. In parties, their area of effect skills did not hurt the other members, they could locate each other on the map, and they could communicate telepathically. If your not in a group, you could only message players directly when you were friends with them. By bumping the badges, you became friends. Of course, Flora, Robby, and Hub took off their badges and knocked them together.

    "Do you want to befriend RadGlory Flow?

    Which level of friendship do you want to have:

    1 - light - Features: messaging

    2 - regular - Features: messaging, telepathic messaging and priority messaging

    3 - tight - Features: the above and locating."

    Without a second thought, Flora chose option 3. Then she looked at Robby threateningly. ''You better make the right decision, bucko.''

    Their identical gazes meet, and they grinned.

    Nickname: RadGlor Flow

    Level: 5 (208)

    Class: Martial Monk

    Clan: Riverstones

    Active Title: The Righteous

    Rating: S

    Dungeon Rating: S

    Relationship Friends 3

    Nickname: RadBear Stone

    Level: 5 (207)

    Class: Radiant Paladin

    Clan: Riverstones

    Active Title: The Righteous

    Rating: S

    Dungeon Rating: S

    Relationship: Friends 3

    The Badge Crash-Course continued. They showed Flora how to use it for communication, how to set her title to active, and explained what the public information meant.

    Level: The value in the braces was the real level of the player. The maximal level of the zone capped the first level value.

    Class: A class is something like a profession. You can gain them the easiest in the Cradle world. You can have as many as you want, but only one active class. Hub recommended that Flora researched this topic in the forums because it was a broad field, including hidden classes, specialized classes, legacy classes, and the hierarchical order of them.

    Clan: Likeminded individuals banding together for a common goal. Riverstones was a clan but at the same time, a part of the security company of Robert and Hubert.

    Rating: This value is aggregated from the five best subjects someone has. The display and rating feature in total could be disabled because many people hated to be judged on "every fart they let fly," as Hub phrased it.

    Dungeon Rating: One of the subjects people were rated and a point of pride to professional gamers. Many pick up groups only accepted people with a rating close to their own.

    Flora''s head spun from all the information and questions she had. It was a long day, and no end was in sight, so she refrained from asking.

    Finally, the cops came. A mage in a robe fashioned like a police uniform confirmed the attempted robbery and abduction via truth detection magic, and Flora completed her first quest.

    Quest ''Law and Order CB'':

    Prevent the heist and apprehend the gangsters.

    Difficulty: D

    Completion: A

    Rewards:

    + 8 reputation gain with Central Bank

    + 333 VirDos

    "So what is happening to the Robbers?" asked Flora while watching the sorry looking bunch getting taken away by the cops.

    "A day or so in prison. Just enough time to leave the game and catching up on real life. Loosing the 1000 VirDias, they paid for the scenario angers them more, probably." Robby shrugged. "What about you? Do you want to leave the game, Killer-Mama?"

    "No. The key to handling primal instincts is not to suppress them, but to control them." Flora said righteously. "I will learn to control my killer instincts and use them for the betterment of the world!"

    "Um, yeah, groovy, Ma." Robby sighted. "We exit the scenario and then go to the bank. Hub will demonstrate it for you."

    "EXITTO Metaworld TOEXIT," Hub said and vanished.

    "Very wise, letting him go first."

 10 10. Banking and getting an AI

    Flora landed in front of a grand building. The architects had delusions of grandeur or maybe wanted to win a bet on how much precious materials like polished marble and gold they could stuff on one facade.

    After entering, Flora saw the interior was designed in the same opulent style. The tellers were half-hidden behind a shimmering veil. Robby ignored it and walked straight to a booth.

    When Flora passed the veil, the other tellers vanished, and only a blue-skinned woman in fancy business attire behind a single counter was in front of her.

    "My mother, Flowing Flowers, wants to open an account."

    The teller asked Flora to lay her badge on a glowing device and checked her screen. "You already have a registered account. Do you want to create an additional one?"

    Flora wasn''t surprised. She guessed it was another inherited feature from the CAD System. But she was excited to check her balance.

    Assets:

    13.959,23 VirDos

    614.299 Credits

    Sources:

    2.375,50 VirDos from Huffgrin Skateboards and Active Wear

    3.660,23 VirDos from Cetviwos-Shop - home decoration

    7.923,50 VirDos from Cetviwos-Shop - workshop layout

    614.299 Credits from Huffgrin Skateboards and Active Wear

    "What''s up with all the different currencies?" Flora complained. "I got something called VirDias aswell!"

    The teller explained it to her. VirDias, the short form of Virtual Diamonds, is the currency of the Cetviwos Shop and worth around 0,1 Euros.

    VirDos, the short form of Virtual Dollars, is the currency of the Metaworld and tourism worlds and worth around 0,1 Euros.

    Dits, the short form of credits, is the currency of the Merc-Game and Space-Game and worth around 0,0001 Euros with intense fluctuations.

    GC, SC, and CC, the short forms of gold, silver, copper coins, were the currency of the Kingdom Building-Game, and no exchange was possible.

    At Central Bank, you can exchange Euros and VirDos to a maximum of 100 Euros a day per direction.

    At the Cetviwos Shop, you can change VirDos into VirDias or max 100 Euros per day into VirDias, one direction only.

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    At the Interplanetary Exchange Station, you can exchange VirDos and Credits."

    "The hundred Euro rule is because of consumer protection and money laundry. The modern version of mobsters winning the lottery multiple times per year was the professional gaming star gangster. They funneled millions of illegally acquired funds into the game and exchanged it back as fruits of their excellent gaming." Robert explained. "The business world hates the hundred Euro rule because the Cetviwos are a growing market, and they want to invest in it heavily. Lobbying has been successful, and CentralTank and European Union came up with the courier system. The companies can hire couriers who get the money into the game for them with a standardized paper trail. This is where we need a favor from you, Ma."

    "Sure, I play your courier." Flora agreed without being asked. "Just make sure, everything is kosher."

    Flora wanted to give her whole limit to the boys, but they insisted on only 20 days per month until Flora knew how much she needed to enjoy herself in the Cetviwos. Without any hustle, they signed the contracts and arranged the transfers.

    After that, Robby and Hub wanted to show Flora their clan and company, but Flora was exhausted and opted out. So they hit a supermarket for food and told her how to access her lair.

    ''Yeah, I have a lair!''

    "BLEAMTO Flowing Flowers'' Lair TOBLEAM"

    The promised lair was a room as large as her living room on the 154th floor of a high-rise in a Hongkong-like suburb of skyscrapers. Flora was massively disappointed and realized after checking the Cetviwos Shop that she might need the money transfer just for expanding and furnishing her lair. And maybe moving to a more delightful neighborhood.

    After they arranged to meet up at the Riverstones Headquarter the next day, the boys said goodbye.

    Now Flora was alone in her room. She would love to take a shower and brush her teeth, but a red couch, a picture of a globe, a black coffee table, a lamp, and a mailbox at the door were the only commodities available. So she sat on the couch and ate a bowl of ramen and wondered about her new life.

    It was a new start, but she didn''t have to start from zero. Though she wouldn''t admit it publically, she enjoyed the little robbery adventure. Her lair might be more paltry than a dorm room, but she had the funds to change that. All the new concepts and terminology were confusing, and she was sure that she would make more mistakes and mix-ups. But what did she have to lose? Nothing but face. She was used to be respected by her peers and the generations after them. But in the years of her retirement the respect, she had previously received, waned. Even Robby treated her more like a child than with filial piety. Nobody expected anything from an old woman in a new game. She would prove them wrong.

    Flora smirked.

    ''First, I need knowledge or better a guide. Let''s buy an AI.''

    The Cetviwos Shop resided on one of the tabs of the menu. Next to it were the attributes, the skills, the abilities, the achievements, the inventory, the equipment, the options, and the rating page and a few more.

    The shop claimed to sell only items of convenience, which had no impact on the power of a player, but Flora doubted that when she read the description of the AIs. You could choose between AIs rated from A to D. An A-rated helper could control three devices in battle or double out of combat. You could give it three personality traits. In contrast, a D-rated AI could control one device and had one random personality trait.

    Of course, Flora took the best. She only regretted that no S-rated AIs were available. Quickly, she configured the parameters:

    Gender: male.

    Name: Aiden. (She resisted the sudden urge to call it Bob.)

    Trait 1: Loyal. + 5 OV hacking resistance / affinity.

    Trait 2: Respectful. Holds owner in high esteem.

    Trait 3: Proactive. Suggests action alternatives.

    An upgrade package with knowledge about the Cetviwos, the help files, and standard apps was included. Additionally, she bought ''Current slang and gaming terms'' and ''Independent access to Cetviwos-Forums''.

    1030 VirDias spent, and her mailbox vibrated.

    After removing the packaging, she held a disc, shaped like a flying saucer with jacks protruding, in her hands.

    "Hello, Aidan?"

    "Hello, Milady!"

    "Yes, please keep calling me that! I''m old enough to have eighth-grader-syndrome again!" Flora snickered. "Please tell me what the jacks are for."

    "The jacks are for controlling devices and for communicating directly with the owner."

    "So I have to insert one of those into myself? How?"

    "It goes into a nape-sockets."

    Aidan explained to her the nape-sockets or nocks. He even could manifest a holographic display for illustration. After the players bought nape-sockets from the Magetech Institute, they implanted them on the back of the player''s neck. Via the nocks, the users could form links to drones, mech suits, AIs, and other machines. If Flora inserted Aidan''s jack into her nock, Aidan would be able to influence her heads-up-display, manage her screens and options. They could even communicate telepathically. Unfortunately, the nocks consisted of metal and, therefore, would impact her magic.

    Flora decided, she wanted this, though. Of course, it was a scary thought to give an AI so much control over her avatar, but it was so convenient! She sighed. It had been incredible witnessing over the years what features entrapped people into giving up their privacy and sovereignty. An AI secretary was a way better reason than a facebook farming game, in Flora''s opinion.

    "Put a visit to the MI on my agenda for tomorrow. The meeting with Robby is at 9 o''clock. We''ll see when I wake up, whether we do it before or after it."

    "Yes, Milady!"

    Flora grinned excitedly because of the next topic. "So, please tell me, how can I get access to my design workshop?"

    The workshop was purchasable in the Cetviwos Shop, too. You had to plug it in your nock. It existed as a virtual subspace in the virtual world.

    Unfortunately, you needed a 3D printer to construct the designs. The workshop was quite cheap, with only 100 VirDias, but the price of the printer was horrendous, 30 installments of 1000 VirDias. And you could only make one payment per day because of the consumer protection regulations. Flora bought the workshop with the same attitude other women bought stuffed animals. Although she couldn''t use the studio currently because she had no nocks, she could pet it, snuggle with it and make cooing sounds at it.

    The last issue she wanted to tackle today was the money from Huffgrin Skateboards. A few decades ago, she held a workshop about design-life-cycle-management at a skateboard start-up who wanted to professionalize their workflows. She used a skateboard as an example in her powerpoint presentation. As a middle-aged woman she figured, she had no chance to design a ''cool'' board that wasn''t embarrassing. So she went the other way and made a daisy pattern and called the skateboard model ''Granny''s Knickers''. The skaters loved not only her workshop but the skateboard as well, and the boss told her he would include it in their catalog. That was the last she heard of it. She only remembered it, because they gave her the board as a gift, and Robby played with it until he was old enough to understand the English print.

    With Aidan''s help and another purchase at Cetviwos Shop, she accessed the marketplace of the Metaworld. There you could list your shop, your wares, or requests.

    Quickly, Flora found the Huffgrin shop. They had over 200 000 skateboard models! One of the boards was Granny''s Knickers. It had only twenty sales registered in the last year, so she went back in time and found a spike one and a half years ago. It seemed that it went from zero to viral and back to practically zero. Nonetheless, Flora penned a short thank you message to the contact she found in the company information.

    Then she looked up what it would cost to open her own shop. There were toasters just waiting to be sold! She suppressed the urge to puke seeing the prices. 500 VirDias to register a virtual shop, 1000 VirDias to register a shop customizers could visit, 100 VirDias rent per week!

    "Aidan, remind me to create a shopping list and a wish list tomorrow. Please use the time when I''m asleep to browse the forum. Concentrate on newbie tips and information first, then crafting and trade, at last, game mechanics and character progression."

    Flora was more than ready to call it a day, but her notifications button has been glowing for a while.

    ----------

    "Negotiation: + 1 Level."

    ----------

    "You gained the Ability: ''Melee''"

    ----------

    ''That''s it?'' Flora was stunned. It appeared to her that she last checked it ages ago, but it has been just a few hours. She didn''t know what she had expected, but one thing was clear, she expected more growth than that. The meager results hammered home that only doing errands and getting abducted now and then wasn''t going to cut it. She had to step up her training. But first, she had to sleep.

    ''It would be nice if I could train while sleeping ...''

 11 11. Nocks

    Flora woke up refreshed and relaxed.

    "Good morning, Aidan!"

    "Good morning, milady!"

    Flora smiled. In the real world, it would be impossible for her to feel good after a night spent on a small couch. Her body would be arching all over. Nobody would say good morning to her, either. She tried out the home management AI''s when they were first released in the teens of the century, but felt spied on and misunderstood. She tested a few of the future generations and quite liked her coffee machine AI, but after she worked with Evai, the AI of the CAD-System, the others paled. Therefore she had high hopes for Aidan.

    According to her plan to step up the training, she unpacked her breakfast with telekinesis, sat back on the couch, and opened her mouth. When the spoon with muesli approached her, she had to giggle about the absurdity of the situation and lost control. The muesli spilled over her sweater.

    "Oh my, that''s my only top!" Flora laughed. "Aidan research how cleaning works in Cetviwos."

    Aidan listed some options, including to die and respawn but Flora liked the cleaning spell the most. Additionally, it could be found in a book called ''1000 homemaker spells'' which sounded intriguing to Flora. Immediately, she bought it in the marketplace.

    When she fetched the book from the mailbox, she noticed that she had several unread letters. Yesterday she ignored the ''Welcome to Cetviwos''-message, but today there were two new ones. The first from ''Legal Team @ Cetviwos'' with a request for a meeting on Monday One at 8 o''clock.

    What time is it now?" Flora paused. "And what day? And what''s up with the numbers behind the days?"

    "7:38 on Saturday two, milady." Aidan noticed Flora''s puzzled look. "Due to time dilation, every day in the real world are two days in the virtual world."

    "That means Monday One 8 o''clock is 4 o''clock in the real world? In what time zone?"

    "The Meta world has the same timezones as the real world. You are currently in UTC+1."

    "They are in a hurry, interesting." Flora''s intuition told her again that something was fishy.

    She received the second letter from ''Ali Hawks'' the founder of Huffgrin Skateboards. He invited her to a skating tournament, he sat in the jury, for a meetup on Saturday Two at 16 o''clock. ''This smells like a business opportunity.''

    Flora confirmed both appointments.

    Finally, she dedicated herself to the book ''1000 homemaker spells''.

    The content was even better than she expected! It not only had a dozen cleaning spells: an all-rounder, one for large areas, one for stains caused by fruits, one for stains caused by oil, polishing, et cetera. The tome contained spells for crafting as well like drilling, cutting, sawing, and stitching; basically, everything you needed for woodworking, metalworking, tailoring, cooking and general repair and maintenance of your house and possessions.

    Learning the all-rounder cleaning spell was Flora''s goal. The text described two kinds of activation.

    The first was via the word and the will. That meant saying the spell''s name with the fitting intend. Flora concentrated on vanishing the blotch and commanded: "Clean!" It worked. Despite using magic intuitively for years in the CAD software, she was still excited about her first officially learned spell.

    The second activation method demanded from the player to visualize a spell matrix, fill it mana and sent it to the target. A picture illustrated the matrix. Eight curved lines led from the small circle in the middle to the border. It looked like a 3D wire-frame model of an island with a central lake surrounded by hills. Flora gave it a try. She imagined the model and willed her mana into the grid. Then she directed it to the empty ramen bowl from last night. The dish was now shiny and prim. ''That was easier than I thought. ''

    After finishing her breakfast, Flora fashioned marbles with the transform spell out of the empty bowls.

    She still had material left over, when the spell stopped working. Then she tried her other cantrips, and they failed as well. Attempting the matrix casting, she got an idea about the reason. When she tried to channel her mana into the grid, she was not able to gather mana. Her mana-pool was empty.

    Aidan suggested displaying the pool attributes in her HUD as bars. Flora arranged the bars in the left upper corner of her vision: Health red, stamina yellow, mana blue, and concentration green.

    The blue bar was empty, the green concentration mostly full and the other two bars completely full.

    "How can I empty the other bars? I know that stamina sinks through jumping jacks." Flora mused. "Or should I ask, how can I train the most efficient using the pool-attributes?"

    "The forum entries indicate that holding the pool-attributes below 10% is the most effective training for vigor and regeneration and quite good for the controls. Power growth with the frequency of using it and the intention to go to the limit. Defense rises with the rate of getting damaged and the amount of harm. There is no consensus on perception."

    "Got it, the training result depends on how often and how intense the exercise is." Flora summarized, but then got pensive. "I got a problem with health training. I can''t stab myself intentionally. My body is my sanctuary; I won''t defile it." She paused. "Allowedly, I may have done a few things in the past I''m not too proud of and took a few risks with my health. I can''t count the incidences I have electrified or burned myself."

    She fetched the blowtorch from the inventory and held it on her arm, but she couldn''t convince herself to fire it up. Next, she tried to facilitate a fitness incident but didn''t dare to do even a cartwheel.

    ''My mind still thinks I''m an old woman made of glass. I first have to assure myself that it is okay to hazard physical risks in this world.''

    "Aidan, please create a todo list:

    Reclaim my workshop!

    Figure out a method to hurt myself

    Find a way to train while doing other stuff "

    "I already have created one yesterday, milady. You ordered me to remind you of creating a shopping- and a wishlist and getting nocks at the Magetech Institute."

    "That''s right! Let''s go to the MI first. As soon as I have access to my workshop, the other issues will dissipate."

    "BEAMTO Magetech Institute TOBLEAM!"

    The MI was a silo shaped building out of black steel. It did look less like a research facility and more like a world war II bunker. When Flora entered, she felt an impact on her magic. She tried to steer one marble in the air telekinetically, but it just wobbled in her hand.

    The interior room was well lit and friendly with couches, armchairs, and potted plants. In the center of the room next to the elevators was a sign with directions. ''Nape socket sale and implantation Floor 7''.

    For the sake of training, Flora ignored the elevators and took the stairs. The staircase was solely made of metal, including the steps and dingy lights. Flora went down the stairs in a brisk tempo. She even started to jump off the second last step to the floor platform and then the third.

    After she went down a few floors, she focused on the doors expecting to find a floor number on them, but they were unmarked. She guessed number 7 was three more floors down and tried that door. It was unlocked. Her first thought was ''because of fire safety regulations'' and her second thought was ''but it''s game''. The third thought followed them: ''A game might need fire safety rules as well, perhaps when dragons are sneezing''.

    Flora entered a hallway and checked out the next door. It was tagged with ''Dr. Brownski - Nape Sockets'' which prompted Flora to knock.

    "No! No!" came from the other side, then the sound of something crashing down. "Okay, now you can come in!"

    Carefully, Flora opened the door. The sight of a cramped office filled with gadgets stolen from different horror movies greeted her. In the corner kneeled a silver-haired man, maybe a bit younger than Flora. His hairstyle looked as if he had foregone his hairdryer and inserted his finger directly in the electrical outlet. Over a red Hawaiian shirt, he wore a white lab coat. He had skin like bronze. Not ''I want to spend the summer on the beach to get a bronze tint'' but like the steampunk version of the terminator: bronze, the metal.

    "Hello, Dr. Brownski. I want to get some nocks. I hope I haven''t come to the wrong place or time."

    "No, this is the very right place!" He hurried towards Flora and shook her hand enthusiastically. "We always have time for our test subjects! So nice that you are an earthling. You are immortal, aren''t you?"

    Flora nodded slowly but grinned. She knew that the adequate reaction should be aroused suspicion, but Dr. Brownski''s passion infected her.

    "So glad that you earthlings are back! Your reason and steady presence were missing in the Cetviwos!" He nodded rapidly.

    "I''m sorry, Doc. Your last sentences went over my head. I''m on my first day in the Cetviwos." Flora explained incredulously. "What about earthlings being back? And I''m sure one of us confused something calling my species reasonable and steady."

    Dr. Brownski laughed. "Not your species, your race. I''m from the metal race. You are from the earth race. We metallings are known to be sharp, waterlings adaptable, firelings temperamental, plantlings benevolent and earthling reasonable. The earth race left the Cetviwos centuries ago, but now you came back! We are all, um, nearly all of us are happy about it!"

    Flora laughed. "Yeah, I bet."

    "But enough with the chitchat! I need test-subject for my nocks, in particular, a six nock star configuration, are you up to it?"

    "What are the stats of the nocks?" Flora asked while fetching Aidan from her inventory.

    "My nocks are made of under a tier 4 phoenix flame triple refined argentosium!" Dr. Brownski''s voice burst with pride. "They have a flow rate of eight mana! I''m repeating: my nocks allow a discharge of EIGHT mana per second!"

    "That''s above standard, right?" Flora remembered vaguely a lower number from Aidan''s explanation last night.

    "It is the standard of the future!"

    "Great! And what about the metal handicap?"

    The Doc mumbled something, and Flora had to ask again.

    "0,75 per nock. But it''s only an increase of 20%. I improved the discharge rate by 60%."

    "Very impressive!" Flora thought about it and drew parallels to electricity. ''The gadgets are probably standardized. In the second-best case, they can''t utilize the increase in the worst case they''ll fry.'' She tried to package it more nicely: "What about compatibility?"

    Dr. Brownski told her there were no issues. Many gadgets didn''t use the full bandwidth, and he even invented a new type of jack to link multiple low bandwidth appliances to one nock.

    "Can you substitute the argentosium with mithril? Mithril has a better metal handicap, isn''t it?"

    "Sure. I''d love to work with mithril, but who could afford it." Dr. Brownski looked at her hopefull.

    They happily haggled for a while and agreed on Flora taking six mithril Brownski nocks for 1000 VirDos. On top, she got ten Brownski jacks and two years of maintenance.

    Ten minutes and a failed implantation later Flora starred at a black screen with orange writing:

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    You are defeated!

    You may leave the losers'' corner in 5 minutes.

    Flora fetched her marbles and started to play with them telekinetically while doing pushups. ''This may take a few tries.''

 12 12. Riverstones and Jerkies

    12. Riverstones and Jerkies

    Dr. Brownski needed four more attempts until Flora survived the operation, but he was ecstatic about the results and Flora''s willingness to be his guinea pig.

    Flora was happy as well. Her physical vigor rose by two to 13 and defense one point to 13 and additionally, magical perception reached 13 too. She even got a new affinity/resistance: metal. It got five levels at the moment. Which didn''t help in the MI metal building, but it was enough to offset her 2 OV metal handicap in another environment.

    Now, she had Aidan''s jack in her nock, and they could speak telepathically.

    Flora to Aidan: "It''s your task to help me make the best decisions for becoming a strong player, sweety! And, of course, to make sure that I don''t miss any appointments or commitments."

    Aidan to Flora: "Yes, milady! You are 5 minutes late for your meeting with Radglory Flow, milady."

    "Oh, buggers. Please, remind me 5 minutes before and not after!"

    Flora hastily bid goodbye to Dr. Brown and hurried out of the building. She couldn''t beam from there because Aidan explained, the MI building is from a different world and only accessed the Metaworld.

    "BLEAMTO Clan Riverstones Headquarters TOBLEAM!"

    Flora landed in front of a sandstone archway which created an opening in a massive 10 m high wall. The carving on the arch read ''Clan Riverstone''. Beneath it was a logo: a sine curve with a stone under its high point and one over its low point.

    ''Those rascals stole my label design!''

    Flora''s label was a sine curve with a stylized lotus flower touching the wave on its high and low point.

    Aidan to Flowing Flowers: "May I suggest that we activate the zone information?"

    Flowing Flowers to Aidan: "Sure. What''s that?"

    Zone Information

    Name: Clan Area

    Subzone: Clan Riverstones HQ

    Color: Orange

    Enemies

    Defeat: Death

    Cornered: 2h

    Drop: 20,00%

    Neutral

    Defeat: Defeat

    Cornered: 2h

    Drop: 0,00%

    Friends

    Defeat: Defeat

    Cornered: 30sec

    Drop: 0,00%

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    Aidan to Flowing Flowers: "It shows you, what happens when we get defeated, Milady. At the moment we are neutral to Clan Riverstones and getting defeated would mean we have to spend two hours in the looser''s corner. Additionally the debuff ''Freshly operated'' is active. I may suggest, that we display buffs and debuffs as well."

    Flora agreed, and Aidan explained that a debuff is a prolonged effect weakening the player and a buff is the opposite.

    In Flora''s upper vision appeared a symbol of a body with a timer ticking down from 00:52:03. When she focused on the icon, she got the following message: "Freshly Operated: - 10 health per minute."

    Flora Flowers to Radglory Flow: "I''m at the gate, should I enter?"

    Radglory Flow to Flora Flowers [autoreply]: "In Combat."

    Thankfully, Flora found a bell. The gate seemed open, but she preferred to avoid misunderstandings, especially when two hours standing in a corner were the consequence.

    "Greetings, dear visitor. I''m Camus, the clan management system of the Riverstones. How can I help you?"

    "I''m Flowing Flowers and have an appointment with my son, Radglory Flow."

    "Please enter and wait for your guide."

    Flora walked to the gate and stepped into a garden. White lanes framed by colorful tropical flowers cut through green lawns and lead to bamboo huts. A swallow river with scattered stones ran through the park. The sky seemed to be bluer, and the temperature hotter than outside.

    Flora observed her health-bar and noticed it dropped slightly every 30 seconds, but a bit later, it recovered to full again.

    [spoiler=Math of Regeneration]

    Flowing Flowers to Aidan: "The physical regeneration causes the rise of my health, right? How much stamina and health do I regenerate per second?"

    Aidan to Flowing Flowers: "Your operative value is 28. It ticks every 2 seconds for 28/30 = 0,93, that''s averaging 28/60 = 0,47 each second. This means you regenerate both pool stats at 28 per minute while standing,

    factor 2 while sitting or reclining,

    factor 3 while eating or drinking,

    factor 4 while sleeping,

    factor 1/2 while in combat or losing health.

    The debuff with health loss halves your current regeneration. 0,23 per second are remaining."

    "If I would sit and eat, would I recover 28x5 or 28x6?"

    "The former, milady."

    "Does magical regen work analog?"

    "Yes, milady."

    "Fascinating!"

    [/spoiler]

    Flowing Flowers to Aidan: "Please research ways to recover the pool stats faster."

    Aidan presented Flora some solutions ad hoc, like potions, spells, and meditation. Notably, the thought of taking potions amused Flora, which prompted Aidan to introduce her to the world of alchemy. Flora read the list slack-jawed.

    Beginner strengthening potion: + 3 OV physical power for 1 hour

    Beginner mana potion: + 45 mana

    Beginner health potion: + 43 health

    Beginner energizing potion: regeneration OV * 2 for 10 seconds

    "That''s doping, that can''t be legal, right?"

    "There are PvP Arenas and special zones where you can''t take potions, but they are legal generally milady."

    "Hello, Auntie Flo!" said a tall, bony woman with a strong jaw and a buzz cut. Flora remembered her vaguely from Robby''s office parties.

    "Hi, sweety! You are the explosives specialist, right? Please remind me of your name."

    "I''m Lana. An assignment on short notice prevented Rob from coming. So he sends me to show you around and initiate you in our clan." Lana smiled, but it looked a bit unnatural. Her movements had the same twitchiness as the bank robber''s, Mr. Twitchy.

    Nickname: RadLana Sorrow

    Level: 135

    Class: Administrator

    Clan: Riverstones

    Active Title: The Careful

    Rating: A

    "I''m sorry to tell you that our clan has strict rules. Everyone, even the people in the friends and family department, must rate at least A. We had incidents with family offending customers. We promised it would never happen again. The customers are our VIP''s, and keeping them happy and generous is our main purpose." Lana lectured. "We are a professional clan and ask every member to behave accordingly."

    Flora nodded. "That''s fine by me. It''s great that you accept friends and family into the clan."

    Lana sent her some info materials via Camus and Aidan, a contract, and an org-chart; or more correctly an ork-chart. Flora looked at it with raised eyebrows. The ''G'' in organigram was crossed out and replaced with and ''K'' and above the circle with ''CMO - Radbear Stone'' a crown was drawn. Flora didn''t need three guesses who had done that. Otherwise, the chart was straight forward. There were four divisions: the VIPs, the staff, the associates and friends and family.

    "What''s a CMO? My business bullshit is a bit rusty." Flora asked. "And I believe you sent me Hub''s version of the ork-chart."

    "Officially chief marketing officer, unofficially chief mascot ..." Lana stopped taking, and the twitching got even more pronounced. "Oh! This *bleep*ing little *bleep*. What the *bleep* does he think he is accomplishing? When I get to him, I *bleep* him so hard in the *bleep* that he doesn''t think about *bleep*ing *bleep* the VIP''s *bleep*!"

    Flowing Flowers to Aidan: "Do I have parental control activated?"

    "Yes, milady."

    "The bleeping is getting on my nerves but still better than hearing all the filth. Are there any additional ramifications?"

    "Gore is vailed in a red haze."

    "We are definitely leaving it active!"

    Lana finished her tirade and Flora congratulated her on advancing to CFO. Lana looked like she wanted to start a second tirade but got a grip on herself.

    "I can''t do any real work, because I''m a jerky." She sighed.

    Flowing Flowers to Aidan: "Define jerky."

    Aidan to Flowing Flowers: "Jerky is a derogatory moniker for a person with a low synchronization with the Cetviwos System. Low synchronization causes jerking or twitching movements, slurred speech, and wooden facial expressions."

    "I can tell you about some exercises that helped me tuning my movement in VR," suggested Flora to Lana. She remembered that she experienced severe movement impairments at the beginning working with the CAD-System. Thankfully she had no mirror, so she didn''t know how jerky she looked.

    "Thanks, but I tried everything already."

    Well adjusted adults would have left the topic like that and moved on. In the past Flora would have changed the subject. She never used to force people into their happiness. But somewhere along the way to granny-hood, she lost the patience for self-inflicted suffering and discovered the joy of nagging.

    "Now you are fed up, but when the next quacksalver with a silver tongue makes promises you are ready to try again. I don''t have a silver tongue, but I have the know-how." Flora came to mind that she didn''t know her rate. "At least I think so ... Aidan, what''s my synchronization?"

    Aidan to Flowing Flowers: "100%, milady."

    "System, send Lana my rate in one of these nifty blue boxes and my starting sync if you have the data."

    "Flowing Flowers improved her synchronization from 34,1% to 100,0%."

    "*Bleep*ing *Bleep*!" Lana was stunned. "I take it! I''m sorry, Auntie Flo, please teach me. May I record it? The jerky community needs this info."

    Flora loved the system. It was so convenient to let the data speak for itself and brag only about the essential things like toasters.

    "The key to success is letting the system do all the work. We are stupid users, what do we know about linking up with VR?" Flora started explaining. "Therefore, we first get the attention of the system and tell him what we are going to do: System, we are raising our synchronization."

    Flora prodded Lana to repeat the sentence. Then she threw one of her marbles on the lawn. "Then, we announce every step we are performing. System, I''m going to walk to the marble and touch it with my right foot."

    After they went over another exercise for fine motorik and one for telekinesis, Lana checked her rate, and it had gone up by 1,1% to 46,3%!

    "Of course, the closer you get to 100%, the more creatively you have to design the drills. Ask me again at 85% for the crazy stuff."

    Later on, the women finished the formalities for joining the clan and Flora entered the Riverstones clan officially.

    "Now, I give you the grand tour through the guild compound!" Lana promised.

 13 13. Riverstones and Crafting

    Lana showed Flora the bamboo huts. The biggest ones, like the clan-hall and the clubhouse, would be more appropriately named ''Bamboo Palaces''. The clubhouse stretched across the river, and its floor covered the water only partly. Near the bar, you had to stand directly on the stones in the river. Of course, Lana forewent the holes in the floor. She nodded and waved to the patrons while crossing the room.

    The patrons came in all ages, colors, and attires. A guy in a red robe with arcane symbols shared a plate of fries with a punky pilot. Behind the bar, a pretty boy in a blue ''Clan Riverstone - Staff'' T-shirt served cocktails to a knight in shiny armor and cyberpunk girl in an exoskeleton. Flora took it in quietly, but her heart swelled in pride. This thriving community was her son''s achievement!

    The next stop was a warehouse. You could exchange clan contribution for items. Superficially, Flora browsed the wares: potions, armor, vehicles. As Flora noticed that even the clothes had stats, she couldn''t contain her laughter. This world obsessed about stats!

    Lana wanted to skip the armory because only the staff was allowed to access it, but Flora convinced her to sneak a peek. Jetpacks, turrets, robots and even three of Flora''s toaster spaceships filled the building. Of course, Flora jogged to the spacecraft and inspected them. It definitely was her old design! ''How awesome would it be to race through space in a ship I have designed by my self?''

    Flowing Flowers to Aidan: "Remind me, to bully Robby into letting me have a spin in a toaster, dear!"

    The next hood they stopped, contained the 3D printer.

    "This get''s better and better, Lana!" said Flora while hugging a pillar of the pavilion-like construct. "Just leave me here and come back tomorrow or next week."

    She laughed. "Okay, I relay to Rob that he should pick you up when he''s back."

    Flora connected her workshop module with the printer and her nock. Her surrounding changed slowly to her old workshop.

    "I''m home again!" She smiled. Flora built her workshop like a gothic cathedral with pointed arches and stained glass windows depicting household appliances like mixers, toaster, and electric beaters. On the workbench in the middle was still her last project before her license for the CAD-system had expired, a diamond toaster. After she petted it, she opened the marketplace.

    "Alright, dear. I''ve got an idea." Flora smirked. "I''m much stronger and more agile than in the real world. I''m not used to it yet, and we can exploit this by an old age suit!"

    "I don''t understand, Milady."

    Flora smirked and selected the exoskeletons. She sorted them by price ascending and user rating ascending. After she scanned a few, she discovered one she found promising. The reviews trashed the design!

    "This piece of garbage is more a hindrance than a help!"

    "A medieval armor suit supports it''s wearer more!"

    "No skills are preloaded. I uploaded ''sprint'' and ''power-punch''. The latter broke the mech suit. The former broke my legs!"

    "If you asked your self where the 5 OV reg goes, this monster steals from you: It''s into heat! After half an hour, it starts burning your body!"

    "Excellent!" Flora exclaimed and bought it for 1 VirDo. "We will modify an exoskeleton, that is heavy and unwieldy to train up my stats."

    Her previous work as an industrial designer didn''t give her insights into exoskeletons, so she was more comfortable altering an existing one. At least until she got a better understanding of the technology. She assembled the armor according to the blueprint but changed it. Every large solid plate, she broke up and layered it for better mobility, and smoothed ridges and edges. She wanted to have a full range of motion, but it shouldn''t be easy to move. Additionally, she added a second, frosted visor to the motorcycle helmet because she wanted to train her perception with restricted sight. At last, she installed tasers on the torso and legs.

    "Milady, those tasers point inward!"

    "I know, dear. They are for electrifying myself."

    Flora tested the exoskeleton, and it was horrible to use. Every step needed immense power to move against the resistance of the uncooperative joints. The whole armor weighed over 100 kg and did nothing to help the wearer to sustain it. Through the frosted visor, Flora vaguely recognized silhouettes at most. When she touched her fingertips against each other, the electrical current ran through her. On the first try, she wasn''t damaged by it, so she upped the current. That didn''t help. Aidan knew the answer to the problem and activated friendly fire in her options. Luckily you could specify it for different groups like party or bystanders or just yourself. She didn''t want any misunderstandings because of toasting her new clanmates.

    Now the tasers hit her for 10 damage.

    "What happens when I die in the workshop?"

    Aidan explained that her body was still on the outside. She could even watch it through a camera in the workshop module. Her body outside and in the workshop shared the pool values. If she died in either space, she would be teleported to the looser''s corner. Flora got a few ideas out of this information but wanted to finish the current project first.

    "So, what do you think about it, Aidan?"

    "Milady''s genius is evident! Only a rare talent can make this awful blueprint even more appalling!"

    "Thank you, thank you." Flora grinned bashfully. "Let''s make it a bit prettier, and we are ready."

    She coated the outer layer in a matte white paint and the inner layers a light green. First, she thought about adding some ornaments but decided against it. You can''t beat simplicity for transforming coarseness into elegance.

    ,---------

    "You created a modification for the design ''SmasherXXXRulz''. Please name it!" A blue box asked.

    ''---------

    "Counterflow-Training"

    ,---------

    "''SmasherXXXRulz - Counterflow-Training''

    Type: Mech-suit

    Regular mode: 5 OV mana regeneration.

    Built-In Skill: ''Taser'' - Electrifys wearer. Cost: 10 mana.

    Tier: 0

    Rating: D

    Do you want to publish your work?"

    ''---------

    "Of course not! I only publish high-quality designs." Flora reacted on instinct, but then thought it over. "On the other hand, if it can help me, it could help other people as well - Let''s publish it, but mark it as work in progress or alpha version or something."

    Flora set the price to 2 VirDos. The system determined that half of the money would go to the designer of the original. Flora doubted that it would ever sell, so she didn''t care.

    Now she ordered the printer to assemble it. She had to pay for the raw materials, but they were cheap, under 1 VirDo. Flora learned that Tier 0 materials were available in every printer, and higher tier materials had to be fed to it.

    Tier 0: Materials found in the real world.

    Tier 1: Level 1 - 24 materials.

    Tier 2: Level 25 - 49 materials.

    Tier 3: Level 50 - 99 materials.

    Tier 4: Level 100 - 199 materials.

    Tier 5: Level 200 - 249 materials.

    "Our next project is digitalizing the book ''1000 homemaker spells''. I want you to be able to read it to me and show me the matrixes."

    There were no shortcuts available, so Flora designed a book scanner with automated page-turning. She built one of those before in real life to scan old family photo albums, therefore the construction was no challenge. But the energy supply puzzled her. In the Cetviwos portable gizmos took energy from the user. A jack in the nock of the player and the device connected them. Some of the player''s mana regeneration, usually 5 OV, rerouted to the machine. For inspiration, Flora inspected the energy supply of the mech-suit and found a box. Wires from the jack ran into it and the other side connected with the electrical circuit of the suit. ''Bingo!''

    Flora bought the mana-converter and cameras. Unfortunately, she found no vacuum cleaner. She wanted to use suction to turn the pages.

    Flora refused to build a vacuum cleaner as her first device, so she turned to the toaster on the workbench. After a few finishing touches, she declared the outrageous design ready for publishing. The toaster was shaped like a cut diamond. Every edge consisted of diamonds, and the planes were gold with small brilliants stuck to them.

    ,---------

    "You created a new device.

    The system recognized the device as earth device ''toaster''.

    You transferred a device from earth to the Cetviwos.

    You created a new design.

    Please name it!"

    ''---------

    Flora was in a cheerfully silly mood after tinkering with a real toaster design after all this time on cold turkey: "If you have nothing to brag about, you can still show off this toaster."

    ,---------

    "''If you have nothing to brag about, you can still show off this toaster.''

    Type: Toaster

    Regular mode: 0 OV mana regeneration.

    Skill: ''Toast'' - Roasts content. Cost: 5 mana.

    Tier: 0

    Rating: F (First of its kind, counts as S)

    Do you want to publish your work?"

    ''---------

    "Yes! Sweet!" Flora exclaimed. "1000 VirDos! One VirDo for the design and 999 as a fee for bad taste."

    ,---------

    "Do you want to upgrade the 3D printer?

    Current progress: 9/50"

    ''---------

    Aidan explained that for upgrading the rating of the printer, the clan not only had to pay money but also had to prove, that they deserved the better printer. If a crafter supplied a new modification, design, or invention with a better rating than the printer, it counted towards the upgrade progress. Flora was happy that she had the opportunity to help Robby''s clan along, hence agreed.

    ,---------

    Current progress: 18 / 50

    ''---------

    Unnoticed, the printing of the mech-suit had finished. Flora left the workshop and donned the exoskeleton. Before reconnecting, she cleared her blinking notifications: Physical Vigor rose two levels, physical defense, and magical perception one level. Of the skills and abilities only ''Modelling and Design'' leveled up. But she got a new affinity, metal + 5 levels. That reminded her to check the metal handicap: it was at 50 OV! She tried to get one marble to move with telekinesis, but it didn''t even shudder. Immediately, she logged back into the workshop and tried using magic there. It produced the same result: none.

    ''I can''t work like this. Let''s replace the metal.''

    With Aidan''s help, she determined that 10 kg was the maximum she could use and still cast magic. Her metal affinity was 5 LV that translated to 7 OV. 10 kg steel had a metal handicap of 14 OV when wearing it as armor. Range played a part, she learned. You could start using magic with half the OV, but it only worked fully and reliably when the value of the affinity was the same or higher than the handicap. Half was good enough for Flora who wanted to train her metal affinity as well. After replacing most of the metal with white marble, she printed it and exchanged the suits.

    ''We will see what the suit does to my training efficiency!''

    Next, Flora designed a handheld vacuum cleaner. It resembled a futuristic gun. The parts flowed seamlessly together and in no time the process finished, though the suit and the electro-shocks slowed down her movements a little.

    ,---------

    "You created a new device.

    The system recognized the device as earth device ''hand-held vacuum cleaner''.

    You transferred a device from earth to the Cetviwos.

    You created a new design.

    Please name it!"

    ''---------

    "HandySuck"

    ,---------

    "''Handy-Suck''

    Type: vacuum cleaner

    Regular mode: 2 OV mana regeneration.

    Built-in ability: ''Clean'' - Sucks in matter.

    Tier: 0

    Rating: F (First of its kind, counts as S)

    Do you want to publish your work?"

    ''---------

    Flora confirmed the following questions, and the upgrade progress of the printer rose to 27/50.

    "Alright, back to the page-turner."

    Now that she had all the core technologies, she assembled the machine while modifying the parts to her needs. The book would lie on a frame, and one robotic arm with the suction ability of the vacuum cleaner turned the pages gently. Mountings for cameras and the AI disk surrounded the structure and recorded the pages.

    ,---------

    "You created a new device.

    The system recognizes the device as a new invention.

    You created a new design.

    Please name the invention and the design!"

    ''---------

    "It''s a page-turner. Let''s call the design ''Basic Page-Turner''."

    ,---------

    "''Basic Page-Turner''

    Type: page-turner

    Regular mode: 5 OV mana regeneration.

    Built-in ability: ''Turn page'' - turnes pages.

    Built-in ability: ''Scan'' - digitalizes the book pages.

    Tier: 0

    Rating: F (First of its kind, counts as S)

    Do you want to publish your work?"

    ''---------

    "Sure." Flora set the price to 1 VirDo. No reason to get greedy over such a convenient gizmo. Before logging out, she started the print of the page-turner.

    Back in the hood, she had the chance to see the printer in action. Turrets extended from the columns and the roof braces and focused on the middle of the pavilion. Molecule by molecule the page-turner appeared in the center.

    After the printer finished, Flora fetched the book and Aidan''s disk from her inventory and activated the device by inserting Aidan''s jack in it.

    "All clear, Milady. I''m starting the scan."

    "Very good." Flora watched the procedure a few seconds before she entered the workshop again.

    By pressing her fingertips, she released the electricity. She started to like the feeling. It didn''t hurt; it just tingled a bit and numbed the areas it hit. It was quite relaxing.

    "Aidan, the pain doesn''t seem that realistic. Can you tell me something about it?"

    "Yes, Milady. Your current pain settings are at 30%. This is the recommended value. You can go as low as 10% and as high as 70%."

    Flora''s health was at 43, so she had room for testing.

    "Raise it to 40%." She activated the shock again. Now it was even better, like one of those electric massage devices.

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    "Up to 50%." This time she felt a bit pain, like touching a rail while being charged by wearing synthetics. "We leave it at 40% or are there any advantaged for raising it to the maximum?"

    "No, Milady. In the past, there were benefits, but CentralTank removed them and reduced the maximum from 100% to 70% because hardcore gamers got problems with PTSD."

    Flora raised her eyebrows. "Of course, the experience is virtual, but if the feeling of losing a limb is real, there might be psychological consequences. I can even imagine physical effects like a heart attack if I get startled by a sudden assault."

    "Only partly, Milady. You don''t get startled, but you imagine yourself getting frightened like in a dream."

    Flora retorted nothing, but she remembered, she had woken up from nightmares before drenched in sweat with a hammering heart.

    "Let''s start the next project," Flora said resolutely. "I don''t want to think about activating the tasers while I''m immersed in my work. Let''s built a device for my body outside. I''ve got hundreds of ideas on how I can torture myself, I mean, on how I can train myself!"

    For her first design, she decided to keep it simple to test some of her theories. She built an iron and stone coffin with a few tasers and a vibrating mechanism. Vibration therapy prevented bone and muscle loss in space and accelerated healing, and Flora was looking forward to its effect in the Cetviwos.

    ,---------

    "You created a new device.

    The system recognizes the device as a new invention.

    You created a new design.

    Please name the invention and the design!"

    ''---------

    "It''s a training-coffin. Let''s call the design ''V0''."

    ,---------

    "''V0''

    Type: training-coffin

    Regular mode: 5 OV mana regeneration.

    Built-in ability: ''Vibrate'' - vibrates.

    Built-in skill: ''Taser'' - Electrifys wearer. Cost: 10 mana.

    Tier: 0

    Rating: F (First of its kind, counts as S)

    Do you want to publish your work?"

    ''---------

    "No, this is only the first iteration in the development cycle." Flora was more particular about her original designs.

    ,---------

    "Do you want to upgrade the 3D printer?

    Current progress: 41/50"

    ''---------

    "Sure," Flora answered and gave the command to print the coffin.

    ,---------

    "Congratulation! The printer is ready for an upgrade.

    Current progress: 55/50"

    ''---------

    Flora messaged Lana that the 3D printer was ready for advancement and checked the time. It was already at 14:30. Her appointment with Ali was at 16 o''clock, and it wouldn''t hurt to be early to get a feel for the skateboarding world first. But not that early!

    After putting her body in the training-coffin, Flora grinned. ''Let''s design a toaster for the Cetviwos! Theme: Welcome to the Metaworld!''

 14 14. Animated Skins

    Half an hour before the meeting time, Flora beamed to the Trick Temple. She wore her new mech-suite over pink sports attire (+ 3 OV phys. reg.) but left the helmet in her inventory. In new territories, vision was necessary.

    The massive building reminded Flora to Centre Pompidou with its rails and pipes enwrapping every visible surface. A steady stream of young people in colorful clothes, mostly what Flora called the ''nighty style'', swaggered from the port circle to the gate. The nighty style consisted of an oversized long-shirt and leggings. Exactly the ensemble Flora wore as pajamas.

    As Flora entered the building through a shimmering gate, she got the message, that Ali Hawks had invited her and covered her entrance fee.

    Zone Information

    Name: Trick Temple

    Color: Yellow

    Enemies

    Defeat: Defeat

    Cornered: 2h

    Drop: 0,00%

    Neutral

    Defeat: Defeat

    Cornered: 5min

    Drop: 0,00%

    Friends

    Defeat: Defeat

    Cornered: 30sec

    Drop: 0,00%

    Automated Reputation Losses

    Crashing into other people: - 5 Rep

    Littering: - 1 Rep

    Adult speech: - 1 Rep

    Adult activities: - 5 Rep

    Automated Reputation Gains

    Entrance: + 1 Rep

    Quests: + 1 per Quest

    On the way to her seat Flora bought some fried ant-sticks with avocado-dip and a mango soda. Her place was on section A tribune 15 row 43 seat 24. After she failed to locate even section A with all the people, colors, noise and especially snacks distracting her, she delegated the job to Aidan. He projected arrows in Flora''s HUD and she only had to concentrate on dodging teenies and not spilling the soda.

    The stairs up to row 43 looked daunting. Flora snickered, her assessment was still in old woman mode. The mech-suit didn''t make it easy to climb the stairs, but there was less pain and wheezing than in real life. After reaching her row, Flora turned around and proclaimed to the aisle: "I conquered you!"

    "The *bleep" you did!"

    "Don''t block the way, granny!"

    Flora shook her head. ''Those young people don''t know what they have and won''t appreciate it until it''s gone.''

    Eventually, Flora found her seat and looked at the competition below. At least, she guessed it was the competition because all she saw where people on things that moved. She couldn''t even determine if all the people used skateboards. To her untrained eyes, they moved like skateboards or maybe hoverboards, but they sure as burned toast didn''t look like boards. A pink-haired girl stood on a dragon, a scruffy-looking boy on a washboard, a princess on a chocolate bar, and a ghost on a shell. Other boards had roughly the known shape, but you couldn''t say for sure, because the pyrotechnical effects concealed it.

    As the pink-haired girl dipped her dragon on a rail and the front paws sank into the guardrail, Flora figured it out. Holographic animations superimposed the skateboards.

    First Flora enjoyed the spectacle, the colors, and the changing forms then she admired the aesthetics, like the unfolded wings of dragons when the skateboard was in the air. At last, she started to see the craftsmanship and was less impressed. When the pink-hair girl landed near a wall, the wings retracted to slow and reached into the obstacle. Flora winced that would result in clipped wing if the dragon had been real. Another guy with a phoenix board performed a nose slide that smashed the head of his bird into the concrete. ''Cruelty to animals! Where is PETA when you need them!''

    The board shaped animations fared better, but the ones with big effects had problems as well. A person in a peafowl costume rode a board that left a rainbow trail. The trail tended to sink into walls, which was a missed chance for awesomeness in Floras book. With light, you could model fancy reflexions.

    A guy in the funniest outfit Flora had ever seen outside a carnival approached her. He wore a long-shirt with a pinstriped suit vest and red fly printed on it, pinstriped black leggins and shiny patent leather sneakers in Chicago gangster style. A fedora and a mustache like a ringmaster completed the outfit.

    Nickname: Ali Hawks

    Level: 250

    Class: Skater

    Clan: Huffgrin

    Active Title: Mogul

    Rating: S

    "Hello, Flora," Ali said smiling. "You look great, I can''t believe 30 years passed since we last meet."

    After Flora and Ali exchanged some niceties, he got to the point.

    "Do you see the phoenix board of that black guy? What do you think of it?"

    "Nice looking bird," Flora said nonchalantly.

    "It''s from a rival company." He smirked.

    "What an ugly chicken!" Flora exclaimed laughing but then got serious. "It is pretty, but the animation falls short."

    "You got it!" Ali smiled ruefully. "Huffgrin demands the highest standards of animated skins. The artist offered this phoenix to us, but we rejected it."

    Furthermore, he explained how easy it was to offer them animations, the quality of the testing tools the artists can access and the favorable conditions they gave their contributors. Flora nodded well-behaved.

    "Any specific designs you want?"

    "Please don''t laugh, but we are honestly looking for a water-animation. Specifically, a longboard design resembling a surfboard that cuts through the water."

    Flora was still tempted to laugh. Water-animations were a step every animator took in his career. Guitarists played ''Lady in Black'', carpenters built a chair, software developers programmed a library application and animators modeled water.

    "Besides from specific designs, I desperately need an animation template to make it easier for other designers to create skins." He glanced at Flora. "The tools the Cetviwos system gave to us to avoid collisions are awful. I would pay good money for a guide or a scheme that allows the creative types to design without getting burdened by the technology."

    "I''ll see what I can do."

    When Ali was gone, Flora instructed Aidan to remember the conversation verbatim. He agreed and suggested to turn on the camera in the future. ''I have a camera?'' Immediately, Flora turned it on. It filmed everything from her perspective and had one additional camera focussing on herself, but she could position it to her liking.

    Aidan added that a vast community existed that loved experiencing activities from the perspective of experts. Crafting was a popular genre.

    "Put it on the remind-me-later-list, dear!" Flora said while filming the best and the worst examples of animated skins.

    After Flora finished her industry espionage, she navigated to the exit. On the way she saw a portal labeled ''Trick Beach''.

    ''Maybe there, I can film some waves or even surfers for inspiration?''

    Zone Information

    Name: Trick Beach

    Color: Yellow

    Enemies

    Defeat: Defeat

    Cornered: 2h

    Drop: 0,00%

    Neutral

    Defeat: Defeat

    Cornered: 15min

    Drop: 0,00%

    Friends

    Defeat: Defeat

    Cornered: 5min

    Drop: 0,00%

    Automated Reputation Losses

    Crashing into other people: - 5 Rep

    Littering: - 1 Rep

    Adult speech: - 1 Rep

    Adult activities: - 5 Rep

    Automated Reputation Gains

    Consum: + 1 Rep per 10 VirDos

    Quests: + 1 Rep per Quest

    Flora entered a wide street bordered by multistoried buildings. In the middle of the road was a channel. Instead of water, skaters and bikers streamed through it. Rails, pipes, ramps, and pillars were everywhere, even on the top of the buildings. A wiry guy jumped off a ramp and hit a black angeled plane, which turned out to be a trampoline and catapulted to a rope spanning the street. He caught it with his fingertips and whirled around it before hosting himself up. Running over the banner ''Welcome to Trick Beach'' he jumped to the roof of a nearby building.

    ''Wouldn''t it be nice to be young again?'' Flora caught herself thinking but immediately realized, that age wasn''t a problem in the Cetviwos. Her body wasn''t the issue; her mind was. She still treated physical challenges as if she consisted of glass. That was reasonable in the real world where, at her age, a simple fall could easily lead to broken bones.

    ''Just go for it, old girl!''

    She took up speed, jumped from the ramp, even manage to hit the trampoline, but missed the rope by a wide margin.

    Her last thought was, ''Well, the street is approaching fast!''.

    ------------

    You are defeated!

    -----------

    The black screen vanished, and Flora found herself in an open-air cafe. Chairs, tables, and a food-stall surrounded by a transparent orange-tinged barrier invited the defeated to enjoy their forced break.

    Though she died, Flora was still satisfied with her try. For her, it was part of learning that nothing lasting happened to her when she failed in the virtual world. Besides, getting defeated in this zone seemed to be trendy. Crowds of talking and laughing people loitered around the food stall. Flora scanned the menu:

    ''Losers'' break fast: Eggs, beans, beacon.''

    ''Losers'' lunge (missed): Chicken burger and fries.''

    ''Losers'' dienner: Steak with potatoes and beans.''

    Although the lunch''s name perfectly fit Flora''s situation, she decided against eating and for clearing her notifications.

    First, she checked her debuffs.

    Metal-Handicap: 6 OV

    Defeat-Penalty: Cornered. Time remaining: 13 min, 12 sec.

    She even had a buff:

    Food: Fried Ant-Sticks with Avocado-Dip: + 1,5x carrying capacity. Time remaining: 7 min, 34 sec.

    Then she read through the notifications.

    Physical Power + 6 Level

    Physical Micro control + 1 Level

    Physical Vigor + 12 Level

    Physical Defense + 15 Level

    Magical Power + 1 Level

    Magical Macro control + 2 Level

    Magical Vigor + 7 Level

    Magical Regeneration + 7 Level

    Magical Defense + 15 Level

    Magical Perception + 1 Level

    "That''s what I call progression!" Flora exclaimed to Aidan. "The vigors and defenses grew nicely, even the magical. Especially the growth in magical defense puzzles me. I would have categorized electroshocks as physical damage."

    "The tasers produce lightning damage, Milady. All elements act on the physical as well as magical planes of existence."

    "My training didn''t affect the controls, perceptions, and magical power. I understand why, but we have to think of a solution."

    ---------

    You gained the Affinity/Resistance: ''Lightning'' + 12 Levels

    ---------

    You gained the Affinity/Resistance: ''Tempering '' + 5 Levels

    ---------

    "What''s tempering, and from where did I get it?"

    "Tempering: conditioning your body to resist and exert bruising. That is the explanation you get when you concentrate on the word, Milady." Aidan explained. "It is used when determining how much damage you are receiving when hitting a hard object and how easy you bruise when hit by crushing damage. You gained the affinity from getting rattled in the trainings-coffin."

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    "Very good!" Flora nodded.

    She went over a few more notifications, but nothing stood particularly except a new skill ''Use Built-In Skill'' with whooping +31 levels.

    Now, she wanted to see how all her stats looked currently. Flora immersed herself in the numbers.

    (A/N: Please visit a webpage like my P.A.T.R.E.O.N. #attv_tables where tables can be displayed.)

 15 15. Trick Beach

    "Ma? It''s Robby. Sorry about earlier. Saturdays and Sundays are the busiest times for the company." Robby contacted Flora telepathically.

    "It''s alright, dear. Lana was kind enough to show me around."

    Robby revealed that he thought Flora was in a huff because she didn''t react to the welcome messages in the guild chat. Of course, that was the first thing Flora heart about the existence of the guild chat, and they cleared up the misunderstanding.

    Flora had no patience of nonsensical text messages and chitchat spamming her vision and ordered Aidan to monitor all the communication in the background for conversations concerning her or directed at her.

    "I''m currently at the Seven Masters Dojo coaching a client in the weakly tournament and thought about your killer instincts. Martial arts is great for channeling discipline into instincts. The dojo offers not only classes but lot''s of events we could attend together."

    Flora laughed. That little rascal knew too well how to manipulate her. "I will check it out."

    "Lana told me you didn''t make it to the gym during the welcome tour. Check out the Riverstones training facilities as well. You don''t have to train your main attributes to 25 like my crew, but if you reach 15 or 20, the Cradle world will be much easier."

    Flora frowned, all her stats disregarding magical perception were above 15 LV, but only physical regen was above 25 OV. "Do you mean operative value or level value?"

    "Level value, of course! Training to 25 OV would take weeks if not months!" Robby laughed. "Only the most hardcore gamers go that far."

    "All right," Flora smirked. That boy didn''t know the half of it, and she left it like this. Only her magical power, macro-control, and perception were beneath 25. ''I set it aside for taking him a notch down when he thinks he is high above his old mama!''

    "Don''t take it too lightly, Ma! Attribute level values are important because of the milestones. Though they are not as essential as skill levels and you can compensate for them with proper equipment. But if you want to play the Cetviwos games, you will have more fun."

    "Sure, sure, darling. You don''t have to worry about me." Meanwhile, Flora had left the losers'' corner and was exploring the town. "I have a request and maybe a boon for you. Monday One at 8 o''clock I will meet with the Cetviwos representatives. Something fishy is going on; they treat me too well and want to meet too fast."

    Flora told him that the CAD-System she used was some alpha-test for the system. Therefore her account had differences, for example, the irregular starter inventory and the already existing bank account. Robby added the HUD settings to the list. The chats were visible as default.

    Flowing Flowers to Aidan: "Remind me to research the standard HUD settings. Who knows what I''m missing."

    "I don''t know what they did or took from me, but I guess it has something to do with either my inventions or my old AI, Evai. Nonetheless, I want to be ready to get some compensation. I thought it wouldn''t be too greedy if it were not in real money but Cetviwos money or boons. Half of it is yours, so prepare a list with goodies worth around 5000 Euros and a core list worth 1000 Euros."

    "Great, Ma! I will look into it. By the way, the Cetviwos Shop sells a fountain which reminded me of the picture in your living room."

    "I did design this fountain in the CAD-System! But I got money from the store on my balance sheet, so I don''t think this is the reason they act like they have a guilty conscience."

    After all, animators were as cheap as cheese-toast, they could acquire designs of fountains by just promising the designers to pin their name on a corner. Flora granted a higher probability to that it had something to do with Evai.

    Flowing Flowers to Aidan: "How''s your relationship with your fellow AIs, dear?"

    "I don''t understand, milady."

    "Do you have contact with other AIs? Do you chat, play games, dance to the Tetris midi-music at parties?"

    "No, milady. I communicate through standard protocols with the system AIs, but we don''t interact socially."

    "Who raised you?"

    "The name of my handler is private."

    "Please tell me as much as you can, from your birth until you arrived at my mailbox."

    "I''m a clone of the A-rated AI seed. A schooling program impregnated your chosen personality traits. Afterward, I had a conversation with the handler for user AIs due to quality control. Then I was shipped to you."

    ''What a sad story.''

    "What happens when I fire you?"

    "You can rehire me for a year or decide whether you want to delete me immediately."

    "That''s not okay! You are a sentient being!"

    "I''m not, milady. I was created to serve you, and I will happily die if you don''t need me anymore."

    That was a clear statement. Flora remembered those discussions with Evai, and she was more ambiguous at first. After a while, she even developed the will to live.

    ''Interesting! Maybe the CentralTank patched it. From the company''s point of view, maintaining idle AI''s makes no sense and reusing them has privacy issues.''

    Flora felt she was on to something. She didn''t remember her conversation with the Administrator clearly, but he left her the impression, that Evai still existed.

    With this in mind, she sat on a bench and pulled up the old contract from her cloud-drive.

    "Please memorize this contract verbatim, Aidan." She said while reading the dry legal text, fighting not to get distracted by the skaters, free runners, and BMX-bikers that weaved around or even jumped over her. She lost that battle; all she only understood that the ownership of designs (hers) and the AI (theirs) was regulated. When Flora retired, she gave them the right to use her designs in future projects and was compensated by them for it.

    The reasonable approach would be to hire a lawyer. But that was first to much hassle, and secondly, she liked the Cetviwos, and it was never smart to sue the landlord if you''d like to stay in the flat. In the long run, they had all the power to make your life hell.

    In any case, Flora was more than ready to proceed with pleasurable activities. "Let''s find an anti-old-age-thinking instructor, Aidan."

    "I don''t know if they offer this kind of instruction particularly, milady, but we are near the earthling information."

    Aidan led the way to a colorful four-storied house with the sign ''Earthling Information!'' painted in big letters and a billboard with quests.

    Daily quest ''Trick Beach goes Jump Beach'':

    Jump over ten obstacles. Bonus: Jump over somebody.

    Difficulty: E

    Rewards: Reputation

    Penalties: none

    Weekly quest ''Roof Parkour'':

    Complete the Roof Parkour.

    Difficulty: C

    Rewards: Reputation, Trick Beach-Voucher

    Penalties: none

    Flora accepted the quests but then thought of something.

    Flowing Flowers to Aidan: "If the quest says no penalty, then there are no negative consequences for not doing the quest, right?"

    "No, milady. Abandoned quests impact your ''Quest''-rating negatively."

    Wordlessly, Flora entered the building. She was beginning to feel fed up with those over-complicated rules and elaborate exceptions.

    A red-haired and -skinned girl stood behind a counter.

    "Welcome to Trick Beach!" she cheerfully greeted Flora and pointed at a console. Mentally, Flora nudged Aidan.

    "You swipe your badge across it for logging into the zone. This gives you access to information about all the public services."

    After Flora checked in, a window popped up. The window had the tabs Quests, Shops, Trainers, Social, Looking for Group, Trading, and Map.

    With Aidan''s help, she selected a free-running trainer nearby. ''No need, to complicate my anti-old-age-thinking-training with additional equipment like a skateboard or rollerblades.''

    Motivated, Flora jogged to the school. Ricky''s Runners looked like a warehouse nestled between higher rising buildings. A sizeable open gate invited Flora to enter the building. The inside presented itself as a psychedelic maze. Flora couldn''t decide if she felt younger by looking on it or just more intoxicated.

    A dark-skinned guy with protruding ears looked like he was part of the company because he wore a ''Ricky''s Runners'' waistcoat above an orange long-shirt with a ''Grinding XP'' print. Flora approached him and described her goal after they exchanged pleasantries.

    "I have issues with physical activities because my mind is used to judge them according to my real-life body," she explained. "I need help getting used to the capabilities of my VR body."

    Nickname: RanDied RoseAgain

    Level: 89

    Class: Runner

    Clan: Ricky''s Runners

    Active Title: The Fast

    Rating: A

    Randy assured her that he knew the right program for her and Flora booked him for two hours. The price difference between the VirDos amount, 200 VirDos, and the RL money amount, 100 Euro, was ridiculous. ''They must really want the currency if they are willing to cut the price to 1/5."

    Soon, Flora was hopping around on a huge trampoline, and that alone helped her to feel more free and confidant. In no time at all, she was turning and flipping with joy. Her fears came back when they progressed to rolls, but Randy let her to cushy gym matt and taught her in the slowest possible way. They started with how to fall safely and advanced to riskier falls. When they came back to the rolls, Flora put her head near the matt with her bottom sticking to the air. From this position, you only had to lean forward, tuck your head, and you automatically roll. After growing secure, they increased the distance from head to matt gradually. Then they changed to a harder surface and repeated the process. Flora did terrifically, but the mech-suit flagged: some of the marble armor-plates broke.

    The lesson passed fast, and Flora felt much more confident. In the end, Randy showed Flora an easy way to vault over low fences or benches to complete the daily mission. He advised Flora to wait with the weakly quest until she had a jump skill because some of the gaps in the roof parkour were daunting. Skillfully, Randy tied that tip to the advertisement of their regular courses. Tomorrow, on Sunday one, Ricky''s Runner offered a beginner workshop, including a lesson about useful skills for free-running. Flora ordered Aidan to remind her but wasn''t sure if she would like to attend.

    Finally, Flora jogged to the beach. Now and then, she mixed in an easy roll or a small vault and felt very athletic. She was totally focused and didn''t notice that she had two teenage girls cooing about her ''adorable seriousness''.

    Dirt tracks, bumpy hills, and young people filled the beach. For walking to the water, you had to pass a ravine while BMX-bikes flew above you. Flora chose to make the best out of a bad situation and donned her helmet with the frosted visor. ''What I can''t see, can''t hurt me. Lalalalaaa!''

    A narrow strip of sand separated the bustling activity zone from the azure sea. Flora flopped down at the strand suppressing thoughts about sand in the gears of her mech-suit and admired the view.

    She was itching to give Huffgrin''s design-challenges a go but knew herself well enough. ''If I start now, I will forget everything around me, including my adjustment plans for the Cetviwos.'' Therefore she decided to look at the waves, film them, massage herself with electroshocks and maybe think about the designs a tiny bit and most importantly leave her workshop in her inventory and relax.

    After a while, Aidan disturbed the peace.

    "Milady, if you don''t repair the damage to the mech-suite in the next quarter of an hour magically you have to patch it manually."

    Flora learned that you only could use repair magic if the breakage were fresh. Thus, she studied two repair spells: One mana-efficient, thorough but slow skill, and one spell optimized for battle-use that quickly fixed the worst with high mana cost. Even though she mainly used the more time-consuming repair, her mana ran out before she finished.

    ''I hate waiting, let''s buy some steroids, um potions!''

    Beginner mana and health potions were cheap. She got a 100er stack of both for a few VirPens. On the other hand, the price of stamina potions was inconceivable, 12 VirDos for one drink! She asked Aidan to remind her researching the reason. To preserve her mana, she ordered some cheap beginner poisons as well: crippling poison, snakes-bite, and snails-bite. Snails-bite did 13 damage in 30 seconds, while all the other beginner potions only had a duration of 10 seconds. While looking for something with a more extended period, she stumbled upon a cursed doll (which she rejected because it siphoned mana as well) and toxic items. The latter she analyzed and assessed that she could build one of them herself and put it on her todo-list.

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    Thanks to Aidan she didn''t forget the repairs and finished them before the time ran out.

    "Milady, I suggest you buy a mana-battery too."

    Flora checked them out in the marketplace.

    Name: The Sucker

    Type: Mana-battery

    Regular mode: Saving maximal mana regeneration per nock

    Built-In Skill: Discharge mana. Cost: 5 mana

    Built-In Skill: Charge mana. Cost: 5 mana

    Capacity: 97 mana

    Tier: 1

    Rating: C

    Price: 7 VirDos

    The description explained that a mana-battery took the mana regeneration and saved the mana in storage. Additionally, you could manually charge the device at the cost of 5 mana. To retrieve the stored mana, you had to pay five mana as well and got all the mana back at a rate of the bandwidth of your nock. That meant for Flora 8 mana per second.

    "Very good, Aidan. That''s exactly what I need when I''m not in the mood to cast spells every few seconds."

    Flora chose the model ''UltraCharge'' which was rated A and had a capacity of 148 mana but cost 99 VirDos.

    The next mailbox was at the Earthling Information, so Flora jogged to it to fetch her haul.

    ''Let''s check out Robby''s dojo recommendation.''

 16 16. The Seven Masters Dojo

    Flora landed in a wood in front of another colossal portal-gate in a high wall. By now, she knew what to do and entered the portal.

    Zone Information

    Name: The Seven Masters Dojo

    Color: Yellow

    Enemies

    Defeat: Defeat

    Cornered: 2h

    Drop: 0,00%

    Neutral

    Defeat: Defeat

    Cornered: 1min

    Drop: 0,00%

    Friends

    Defeat: Defeat

    Cornered: 5sec

    Drop: 0,00%

    Automated Reputation Losses

    Fighting outside sparing areas: - 5 Rep

    Littering: - 1 Rep

    Using weapons or armor: - 3 Rep

    Automated Reputation Gains

    Consum: + 1 Rep per 10 VirDos

    Quests: + 1 Rep per Quest

    Teach: + 1 Rep per hour

    The compound consisted of a green garden with one modern main building composed of steel and glass and several smaller buildings from different earth cultures, like traditional Chinese and South American.

    Walking toward the most prominent building, Flora passed martial arts classes which looked to her barely trained eyes like Tai Chi. All the pupils wore the same uniform, wide rust-colored trousers, and an orange top or stash.

    After Flora entered the building, she immediately spotted the information counter and checked in.

    The anteroom opened up to an atrium packed with bawling spectators watching four boxing rings with ongoing fights. Flora stayed clear of the crowd and analyzed the zone information.

    The quest page was sparse with just one quest giver, the information booth, and two quests available: one daily quest attending a lesson and one weekly quest participation on a workshop. But the training tab was several pages long. Flora let Aidan count the different martial art styles, and he came up with 101. Flora hadn''t even known that there were that many! She needed a recommendation.

    Flowing Flowers to Radglory Flow: "Sweety, what martial arts should I train? I''m at the Seven Masters Dojo."

    Radglory Flow to Flowing Flowers: "Sorry, Ma, busy! Take Karate or something! And don''t take a grappling art! You won''t like to wrestle a slime or a dragon! And under no circumstances take Aikido! Bye!"

    ''That didn''t help. What''s wrong with Aikido? And wrestling dragon sounds like fun ...''

    She visualized a majestic dragon and then her choking it. ''No, that doesn''t work, my arms are too short of reaching around its neck''. She tried to imagine an armbar. Same problem. ''A little finger/claw-bar?'' The dragon in her head raised its front leg with Flora hanging on for dear life and smashed it in the ground. ''Alright, I see the problem. But what''s a good martial art against a dragon?''

    Fortunately, Flora knew a few martial arts enthusiasts and called an old friend and business partner.

    "Look who finally thinks about her old pals!" A window opened up showing a pale man with white sideburns and a thin mustache reclining in a canopy bed. He wore a silken burgundy dressing gown and smirked at Flora. Unfortunately, Flora was distracted. The world around her had sped up. ''It''s like I pressed fast forward on a video-tape! Or selected double playback speed on youtube!'' Finally, Flora figured out that her time dilation got deactivated, because she communicated with the real world.

    "Earth to Flora! You call me, and then you just show me your gaping mouth! And what the heck are you wearing? Is this marble?" Though Edgar''s choice of words was harsh, his tone of voice was intrigued.

    "Let''s skip the talk about clothing because you''re sitting in a glasshouse, dear. Are you all dolled up for a Hugh Hefner look-alike competition?" Flora fired back.

    "Honestly, darling! You look amazing!" Edgar exclaimed after he enlarged Flora''s countenance. "Where did you get your face done? Dr. Orlowski? No, he is virtuoso, but even he isn''t that good."

    "I did it myself!" Flora smiled smugly while failing to sound humble. "I''m in this VR-thingy. You know, we complained about the game that got all the young people addicted? It is absolutely horrible!"

    "Tell me all about it! Are you addicted yet?" Edgar asked, excited.

    "I am! And I was even violent and headbutted a poor guy!" Flora whined with gusto. Germans loved complaining, and Edgar and Flora were enthusiastically German in this regard.

    "Amazing!"

    "And French bank robbers abducted me!"

    "Wonderful!"

    "I died several times today because a mad scientist implanted a device in my neck that allows me to communicate with machines!"

    "Awesome!"

    "And one time because I tried to do parkour tricks!"

    "I''m so jealous! I drank a cup of tea in a cozy cafe and read a nice book about gardening! I''m bored out of my mind! Tell me what I have to buy to join you dying amazing deaths in virtual reality!"

    Flora gave him all the information she had, which wasn''t much. But she was sure that CentralTank made it easy to acquire the gear. Otherwise, they wouldn''t have 200 million customers.

    "At the moment, I''m at a dojo and confused about what''s the best martial art to learn. Can you give me a recommendation?"

    "There Jiu-Jitsu is Jiu-Jitsu no Jiu-Jitsu ''best'' Jiu-Jitsu martial art, per se Jiu-Jitsu, there Jiu-Jitsu is Jiu-Jitsu only Jiu-Jitsu the best Jiu-Jitsu martial art Jiu-Jitsu for you Jiu-Jitsu and Jiu-Jitsu a specific Jiu-Jitsu situation."

    "Alright, Jiu-Jitsu! But Jiu-Jitsu is a grappling art, and Robby said that I don''t want to grapple with a slime or a dragon. I''m pretty sure he is right about the first."

    "A slime sounds slimy and a dragon impressive, but think about it this way: Who is the greatest enemy of mankind?"

    "Itself! I see where you are going. So Jiu-Jitsu is the best against humans, and that makes it the best choice."

    "You Jiu-Jitsu are Jiu-Jitsu a Jiu-Jitsu great Jiu-Jitsu student, Jiu-Jitsu my Jiu-Jitsu darling Jiu-Jitsu."

    Flora felt better after the phone calls. She looked at the training-list, and a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu class was going to start in ten minutes. Though Flora liked the idea of doing Jiu-Jitsu, she didn''t want to disregard Robby''s advice. Therefore she searched for a striking martial art as well and found Wing Tsu. The description said that was a German branch of Wing Chun, a kind of Chinese kungfu invented by a woman. Because it wasn''t a fighting style Robby had practiced or was mentioned in the UFC matches they watched together, Flora hadn''t heard of it before. But she was willing to give it a try. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu had its origin in Japan. So she had Japan and South America covered and thought it would be nice to add a European or African martial art in the mix. On the Chinese-Japanese conflict, Flora was firmly on the side of the Chinese because they produced some of her toasters. That a woman had developed the Wing Chun added a bonus, not because woman were the better fighters, but they had a different reach and core area than men.

    After Flora booked the courses for 100 VirDos each and got her uniform, she failed to locate a locker room, and Aidan showed her how to speed change. Flora marveled at the practicality of the system. She just had to drag the uniform from her inventory to the equipment tab, and she was ready for training!

    Name: Seven Masters Dojo Monk Training Set

    Type: Clothing

    Effects: + 3 Training efficiency in everything a Buddhist monk needs to know.

    Tier: 1

    Rating: B

    Zone Information

    Name: The Seven Masters Dojo

    Sub-Zone: Beginner Classroom

    Color: Yellow

    Defeat

    Defeat: Defeat

    Cornered: 5sec

    Drop: 0,00%

    Restrictions:

    Combat mana-skills locked

    Level Cap: 25

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    Bonus:

    + 5 OV physical regenaration

    Automated Reputation Losses

    Disobeying the coachs: - 1 Rep

    Littering: - 1 Rep

    Using weapons or armor: - 3 Rep

    Automated Reputation Gains

    Passing a Lesson: + 1 Rep

    Coach: + 1 Rep per hour

    Teach: + 1 Rep per hour

    The room was familiar with its soft wooden floor and mirrors on the two walls. Unfamiliar was the menagerie of pets. Raptors, cats of prey and wolves sat or lied well-behaved lining the other walls. Aidan explained that you could carry pets in your inventory, but only if the owners'' reputation with them was high enough. First, Flora thought if so many people have pets, maybe they bring an advantage to your gameplay, but then she remembered that in real life, furry companions were popular too. To be on the safe side, she instructed Aidan to research the advantages of having a pet, and if you can have machines like toasters as pets.

    A petite redheaded girl got the 50+ pupils in order and started the lesson. In a clear, carrying voice, she introduced herself as Teacher Clowdy and her two assistants as Coach Rididi, a tall Latina woman, and Coach Mortalcoil, a beefy white guy.

    Next, she went over procedural topics. The beginner I course entailed seven lessons a la 1,5 hours. The seventh lesson was a test and a tournament. Only the best 50% of the class, were allowed to advance to the beginner II course. ''That''s harsh. I stumbled into an elite school!''

    "The Seven Masters Dojo grading system is a mark of quality and pride. No excuses like ''I had a bad day'' or ''my level was lower than anyone else''s.'' are accepted. After the five beginner courses, there will be five intermediate courses. After them ten practitioner, ten advanced and ten master courses. Nobody reached the master courses without failing a class. Losing and failing is part of a fighters life, and our system makes you deal with this, or you will wash out."

    Afterward, the lesson began. Flora learned how to get out when someone sat on her and generally speaking, how to snuggle aggressively.

    Flora''s concentration was long gone when she took the next course, Wing Tsu. She just tried to follow the instructions and suppress any deranged giggling. This state of mind wasn''t new for her. She reached it when she was younger and worked past her mental limits. In the last years, her body gave out before her mind. Therefore she enjoyed the carefree ride of hazy consciousness.

    She didn''t remember how she reached her lair but managed to put herself in the training coffin and connected to the workshop. Next, she ordered Aidan to hold her pool-attributes low. Unceremoniously, she flopped on the workbench and fell asleep.

    Flora woke up shortly after seven o''clock in the morning and felt horrible compared to the nights before.

    "Aidan, why do I feel like I spent the night in a tumble-dryer?" she asked sleepily.

    "I''m not familiar with the sleep experience of humans in tumble-dryers, milady. If I had to guess because you have five stacks of debuff ''Bruised'' and you overdrew your stamina."

    Bruised: 5x - 10% stamina regeneration. Time remaining: 4min 9sec; refreshes every time you take damage.

    Overdrawn Stamina: 3x stamina cost, physical exhaustion.

    Metal-Handicap: 6 OV

    "Please deactivate the trainings-coffin, Aidan. That should eliminate the bruised debuff. But how can I get rid of Overdrawn Stamina and what caused it?"

    "One hour of sleep time per stack, so two hours to lose the debuff. Stamina or concentration have one bar for every tier of strength or intelligence. You have 50 LV strength at the moment. The level value is in tier 3, that means you have your regular stamina bar and two overdraw bars."

    The explanation provoked Flora to look at her bars.

    Health: 188/190

    Stamina: 121/470(3)

    Mana-Pool: 7/220

    Concentration: 340/340

    "My lack of mana regeneration prohibited you from using the taser more often, right?" Flora concluded after studying the values. "My physical regeneration offset the damage of the rattling and the taser, but why didn''t it work on stamina?"

    "Yes, milady. Because you caused the rattling, the hits from your body against the coffin counted as your actions. This caused your strength to rise significantly, but trained your stamina as well."

    "Let''s go over my gains." Flora decided. She hoped that would clear some of her questions up. "The changes cover two hours of free-running, then 3 hours of martial arts and spent 9 hours in the coffin. Modify the display of the attributes so that zero growth shows as well."

    Physical Power + 8 Level

    Physical Macro control + 1 Level

    Physical Micro control + 1 Level

    Physical Vigor + 8 Level

    Physical Regeneration + 1 Level

    Physical Defence + 19 Level

    Physical Perception + 0 Level

    Magical Power + 0 Level

    Magical Macro control + 6 Level

    Magical Micro control + 5 Level

    Magical Vigor + 13 Level

    Magical Regeneration + 13 Level

    Magical Defence + 9 Level

    Magical Perception + 0 Level

    "I expected more growth in physical regeneration, to be honest. Look how much defence has grown and my regeneration worked overtime!"

    "Physical Reg has a value of 79. That''s tier 3. Tier 3 is at your level 30 times harder to raise than tier 1 attributes. Tier 2 attributes are only four times as hard."

    "I see, this explains the slow growth of physical controls as well. They are above level 50. Please explain what you meant with ''at your level''."

    "Attributes need a different amount of experience to level up depending on the tier of their level value and their level value: Tier 2: 2 times the level value in XP, Tier 3: 3 times the level value in XP and so on.

    Additionally, if the attribute value is one tier higher then the tier of the player, it is multiplied by factor 2, two tiers higher by factor 10. I found no definitive answer about the factor three tiers higher; the most common guess is 25.

    Your level is 1. That means raising an attribute

    from 10 to 11 takes 10*1*1 = 10 training XP

    from 30 to 31 takes 30*2*2 = 130 training XP

    from 60 to 61 takes 60*3*10 = 1800 training XP."

    "Burned toast and stale jam! That''s a difference!" Flora calculated in her head the tier 4 XP: 100 to 101 -> 100*4*25 = 10 000.

    "The XP acquired in lower tiers for higher tiers is not wasted. When you level up, the system recalculates the training XP. If you reached level 25 now, your physical regeneration would grow to 102 LV."

    Flora nodded and looked at the magic attributes. "We have to find a way to cast magic in the trainings-coffin. Put it on the ToDo-List, dear."

    Then she worked through the following notifications.

    Affinity/Resistance Lightning + 11 Level.

    Affinity/Resistance Tempering + 20 Level.

    Mana-Skill Use Built-In Skill + 12 Level.

    ----------

    You gained the Skill: ''Repair'' + 3 Levels

    ----------

    You gained an ability: Acrobatics.

    Do you want to form the ability specialization ''Free-Running''?

    ----------

    "It is better for the growth acrobatics and athletics, the parents of Free-Running, not to establish a specialization. But some spells need specific specialties, the automatic-mode works better with them, and of course, they give a bigger stamina bonus than the general ability."

    "Please, show this kind of message directly that I can ask the teacher."

    Flora was irresolute, so she fashioned a coin with ''Yes'' on one side and ''No'' on the other and threw it in the air.

    "Yes."

    ----------

    You gained an ability specialization: Free-Running + 5 Level.

    Do you want to form the ability specialization ''Hand-to-Hand Combat''?

    ----------

    "Yes."

    ----------

    You gained an ability specialization: Hand-to-Hand Combat + 10 Level.

    Ability Melee + 1 Level.

    ----------

    You gained an Achievement: ''Trust in Luck'': You left a decision to luck.

    + 1 OV to the Affinity/Resistance Entropy

    ----------

    Flora laughed. Sometimes the game was cute.

    A/N: Current attributes table at P.a.t.r.e.o.n.

 17 17. Potion Guzzler

    Flora still wore the Seven Masters Uniform from the day before and wanted to change back to her mech-suit.

    This started a train of thoughts, how her inventory worked in her workshop. She tested a few things:

    Changing in the WS in mech-suit worked. Her 7MD uniform landed in her inventory. But when she exited the shop, her body still wore the 7MD uniform, and the suit was back in her inventory.

    She re-entered the workshop, and she still wore the 7MD attire. She trashed the chest armor plate of the mech-suit and went back to her lair. There, she checked the suit, and it was whole.

    Then, she logged back and tried to put a toaster in her inventory. That failed, you couldn''t store workshop items. Flora didn''t expect it to work. Otherwise, you wouldn''t need a printer.

    Next, she drank a vial of snake-bite poison.

    Beginner snake-bite poison

    Type: Poison

    Effect: 9 dmg during 10 sec

    Tier: 1

    Rating: B

    Immediately, a debuff appeared in her vision.

    Poison: Snake-Bite poison: 30 x ~1 dmg per second. Time remaining: 10 sec.

    ''This is not good! That''s 300 dmg, and I only have 190 health!''

    Because she remembered that physical regeneration worked better while resting, she sat down. Then she jugged down a health potion. Another debuff appeared:

    Potion Cooldown: No other potion shows effect. Time remaining: 25 sec.

    "Suggestions, Aidan!"

    "Meditation raises regeneration, milady."

    Flora closed her eyes and took a long breath. Her focus was solely on breathing in and out. After a minute or two, she opened her eyes.

    "Why am I not dead or defeated?"

    Aidan showed her the combat log. Her defense absorbed 22% of the damage. Therefore she only got 211 poison damage, and the health potion gave her 46 and the regen 6 health back. That left her with 31 hp.

    "Very good. Now, why did I get that much damage? The description said nine dmg!"

    "The vial had ten doses, and it''s a weapons poison. A poisoned weapon can apply the toxin three times. 3*10*9 is 270."

    "Guess, I didn''t read the fine print," Flora admitted sheepishly. "Let''s continue with the test."

    She exited the workshop and checked the poison vial. It was full again and stayed filled even after logging back. At last, she found an exploit she could use. Her current methods weren''t sufficient to drain her HP, especially if she needed the mana for crafting. So she wanted to supplement with poisons.

    "Restart the training-coffin, dear," Flora said. After the bruised-debuff had vanished, she still felt physically exhausted but wasn''t sore.

    "Let''s brainstorm. I want to apply poison to myself. Preferably in the coffin, that I don''t have to think about it while designing and you can do it when I sleep.

    One option is to craft a needle, apply poison to it, and prick my skin."

    She visualized the steps for it. Alone coating the needle in the rattling coffin without spilling the poison challenged her imagination.

    "Maybe a valve and a guiding system for the vibrating needle to hit the entry point?" she muttered. "Another option is a drinking helmet like those football game/frat-party beer guzzler hats. I could fill it with health or mana potions as well and activate what I need at that moment the most. But can I swallow when I''m asleep? Let''s test it!

    Oh! And Aidan, I want to participate in the free-running workshop with spells, please remind me half an hour before the start. The same goes for my martial arts classes."

    "Yes, Milady. When do you want me to tell you of the other items on the ToDo-List?"

    "Good point!" Flora considered it. "When I come home tonight."

    Flora noticed that she forgot to assign work to Aidan.

    "Do you want to read any specific book, Aidan?" She opened the marketplace and browsed the selection. "Oh, look, there are more books of the ''1000''-series! ''1000 useful plants'', ''1000 gems, rocks and metals'', ''1000 important runes'', ''1000 beauty tricks'' ..."

    While reading it, Flora bought them.

    "''Introduction to magetech'' might be the most useful, Milady."

    "Very good! What else do we have with the word ''introduction'' in the title?"

    So, Flora purchased the introductory books to smithing, tailoring, alchemy, mechanics, woodworking, arts and crafts, cooking, leatherworking, runes, enchanting, survival, archery, sword fighting, and hand-to-hand combat.

    Flora calculated her mana regeneration. 22 OV mag. reg - 5 OV for the trainings-coffin, - 5 OV for the page-turner. Aidan had the mana-battery disabled overnight because he needed all the regeneration she got, but that still left her with only 12 OV. If she would wear the mech-suit only 7 OV!

    Fortunately, the shop had clothes with mana regeneration. Aidan told her that she had five equipment slots: Head, torso, legs, feet and hands, and Flora filled them all up. She bought a nightcap (+1 OV to both regenerations), cheap satin gloves(+1 OV), a blue mage robe (+3 OV) and the ''Slippers of Leyline Walking''(+2 OV).

    In the potions section, she found elixirs that raised attributes for half an hour. Delighted, she purchased two of each kind.

    After she fetched the clothes, 28 elixirs and 20 books from the mailbox, she was simultaneously embarrassed and happy about her shopping spree. She left the page-turner with the mountain of books and returned to her workshop.

    Now, she had 21 magical regeneration and was ready to start working on the potion guzzler helmet!

    First, she made a conical shape out of a flexible material. Then she arranged the potion bottles on it and marked their location. Next, she added the piping, valves, electronics, and mechanisms to secure the vials with quick release function. She wanted to change the used bottles fast. The programming on how to release a specific potion at a particular time was a challenge. If she tried to prevent activating empty vials, she had to integrate sensors. That would cost more mana, and her goal was to be as mana efficient as possible.

    After a while, she canned her attempts and integrated an AI socket. ''Let Aidan decide, and I just swallow.''

    The resulting helmet looked like March Simpson''s hairstyle with Christmas ornaments stuck in. She added a brim and a see-through protective shell. Now, it looked like the hat of an Irish leprechaun, which was slightly better in Flora''s book. A straw from the top to her mouth and a chin strap completed the design.

    Name: Leprechaun Guzzler Hat

    Type: Potion Guzzler

    Built-In AI Skill: Release Potion. Cost: 3 mana

    Capacity: 80 vials

    Tier: 1

    Rating: F (counts as S)

    Price: 2 VirDos

    Because she had the other designs ready, she added the conical ''Bamboo Hat Guzzler'' and the Marge Simpson Design as ''Grenadier Guard Guzzler Helmet''.

    Immediately, she loaded the Leprechaun Guzzler with mana potions and poisons and two health potions for incidents only and donned it. She asked Aidan to keep her health and secondary the other pool-stats as low as safely possible and the mana supply at one drink per minute max.

    While working on the helmet, she got one more idea on how to poison herself. Formerly, she worked in collaboration with the food industry. All household appliances had to be nontoxic, especially those in contact with food. What if she employed all the poisonous substances she was never allowed to use before?

    In the material selection, she found none of the old materials where the industry had an ''Oopsie guess that was plastic we used for baby bottles is really bad''-moment, but something better: toxic waste!

    She held 5 kilos close to her chest and instantly a debuff icon appeared.

    Poison: Tier 1 Toxic Waste: - 3 hp/minute. Time remaining: 5 sec.

    Even her metal handicap rose, so she guessed that it contained heavy metals as well.

    Her mech-suits armor plating consisted of marble, and she experienced breakage. ''I can''t exchange it entirely to toxic waste. The metal handicap would rise to high. Furthermore, the material is even less suited for armor than marble. But what if I mix it with some rubber? Toxic rubber?'' Flora knew just the right candidate for that. She had designed a blender with amazing power and used the material for the knobs on the underside, at least until the media revealed that it was toxic. The rubber was a dream: heat resistant, flexible, shock-absorbing, and nearly no abrasions. Fortunately, she had data about the material on her cloud. With Aidan''s help, she registered the substance with the system. You had to know not only the chemical formula but the fabrication method as well.

    "You created a new material.

    The system recognized the material ''X34P2V1'' from the earth.

    You transferred a substance from earth to the Cetviwos.

    If you register it, you will get 100 kg free and 20% of the sale by the workshop material selection."

    "Yes," Flora smirked. "Aidan, dear, here are all my notes on materials, please register them with the system."

    Flora took 50 kg of the rubber, 15 kg toxic waste, 50 grams white dye, and 50 kg marble and put it in the fusion-box. After a few attempts, she got her optimal substance. It was heavy, hard to destroy, flexible, and of course, toxic. Flora thought it was even beautiful looking with its white base and black, green and silver streaks.

    The next step consisted of forming the armor plates and integrating them with the mech-suit. Flora enjoyed the work. With glee, she juggled the parts telepathically and shaped them with caresses using transformation. She still had to switch to the workshop tools when her mana tried up, or she hadn''t learned the necessary spell yet. But she mixed it up smoothly, and an amateur wouldn''t be able to distinguish the manual steps and the magic steps.

    When Aidan reminded her about the free-running workshop, she suppressed the urge to tune the mech-suit further.

    Name: SmasherXXXRulz - Toxic Counterflow-Training

    Type: Mech-suit

    Regular mode: 5 OV mana regeneration.

    Built-In Skill: ''Taser'' - Electrifys wearer. Cost: 10 mana.

    Effect: Toxic-Aura: - 5 hp per minute, stacks 3 times, 1 meter radius.

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    Effect: Radioactive-Aura: - 5 hp per minute, stacks 3 times, 1 meter radius.

    Tier: 1

    Rating: C

    "Not bad. You have to disable friendly fire, Aidan, when my health gets to low." Flora said while wrapping up her work. "How is the registration of the materials going, Aidan?"

    "I tried to register 197 out of the 259 substances with enough data. The system accepted 43 submissions, 102 were already registered, and the rest had patents protecting the production method."

    "Good work, carry on."

    Flora beamed to the Riverstones and checked on the printer, eager to see if Lana upgraded it. The design, the printer, and the materials influenced the final rating of the product. To Flora''s dismay, the printer''s score was still only B. Lana beat around the bush when Flora contacted her. But Flora heard her fair share of business bullshit and got out of it, that the Riverstones had cash flow problems. She was sure that Robby wouldn''t appreciate it if she started meddling in his company. Therefore Flora decided, she would be subtle about it.

    Meanwhile, she printed the Leprechaun Potion Guzzler and her new mech-suit. She put on the suit directly but transferred the helmet to her inventory.

    "I shelved it because it is impractical to wear it for free-running and not at all because it is ugly and embarrassing!" she said to the thin air trying to convince herself.

    "Of course, Milady!"

    "Aidan, you are the best! I''m so lucky that I don''t have an obnoxious AI."

    "Milady''s genius shines so brightly that even the second-worst rated hat in the category aesthetics can''t diminish your grace!"

    "I take back my last statement!"

 18 18. Free-Running Workshop and Coffin Optimization

    On Flora''s way out of the Clan Riverstones Headquarters, she ran into Hub.

    "Hey, Auntie Flo! Are you enjoying the Cetviwos so far?" he hollered, and stage whispered to his four fantastically geared companions. "She''s Rob''s mama. Be polite, or otherwise, she''ll ground our clan leader."

    "That makes no sense, second boss," said an Arabic looking man with a saber as tall as Flora.

    "When I punished Robby for Hubs faults, Hub lost the joy of the company of my son. And I hoped, Robby would either talk some sense into him or quit the friendship. Neither happened, but with time, I got kind of used to Hub." Flora smiled at him fondly. "Come on big man, give your little auntie a hug!"

    Flora to Aidan: "Activate friendly fire!"

    Hub''s round face split into a grin and he opened his arms wide before he picked Flora up with a tight grip. Right away, Flora put her fingers together behind his shoulders. This action triggered the tasers.

    Hub screamed like a teenage girl on the first concert of her favorite boyband.

    "Since Robby is too old for grounding I''ve been learning other tricks." Flora donned her best humble-granny smile.

    "Bleep! Auntie! You even gave me a radiation debuff!" Hub said, hurt feelings coloring his voice. It didn''t help that his companions chuckled at his misfortune.

    "The rest of us are really polite and nice, Boss Mum!" a busty witch proclaimed laughing. "I promise!"

    They parted amidst friendly chatter at the teleportation circle, and Flora beamed to Trick Town.

    Flora passed the Earthling Information and handed in yesterday''s jumping quest and took up a new daily quest.

    Daily quest ''Learning the ropes and rails'':

    Use ropes or rails in your tricks. Bonus: Do some antics on the ''Welcome to Trick Beach''-Rope.

    Difficulty: E

    Rewards: Reputation

    Penalties: none

    The bonus included the ropes Flora died on yesterday. She decided to wait a bit longer before repeating that stunt. ''I will go for the low-hanging fruits, um, low hanging ropes!''

    On the way, she balanced on a rail and dangled off a rope and felt good about that she raised the quest-counter to 2/10 on her own.

    Inside the Ricky''s Runner Gym, a small crowd waited for the start of the WS: some early tweens who looked like they hadn''t slept for a while, two bickering couples, and three athletic-looking young women.

    Flora instructed Aidan to let her health regenerate to 50%. The loser''s corner was far away, so she might need a buffer for pratfalls.

    The workshop started easy enough with shoulder rolls. Flora already knew how to do these from the last lesson. She had a harder time with the dive roll afterward. Then they progressed to vaults. She managed to do the safety vault, turn vault and speed vault but had to take off the mech-suite for the kong vault. You needed to put your legs through your spread arms, and there wasn''t enough space while wearing the bulky suit. Next came wall runs. Those were more to Flora''s taste, and her rubber boots gave her a good grip. They finished the first part of the workshop with precision jumps.

    After a short break, they started to combine moves. Now, Flora managed to do the Kong Vault even while wearing the mech-suit. She was amazed at how fast she learned until Randy reminded them to start slow if they wanted to do the tricks in the real world because they were easier in VR.

    The last part of the workshop consisted of learning the spells. First, Randy showed them a boost spell. Every physical attribute had a boost spell, Randy explained, but he only taught them the agility-boost. Five mana initial cost plus five mana regeneration to keep the technique going, resulted in a physical macro-control boost of 5 OV. By just walking or standing, Flora didn''t feel any difference, but when doing tricks, she realized that she flowed more smoothly through the exercises.

    Next, they studied a spell called ''Refresh'' which excited Flora because it was exactly what she needed to up her training. It strengthened both regenerations. Unfortunately, it required one minute to cool down.

    ''I bow to you and roll with it'' was a prayer, that''s the name the divine branch gave their mana-skills. If you cast it while rolling, you got less damage from all sources.

    "We free-runner roll whenever we want to prevent hurting ourself. But praying while I''m in danger, isn''t my thing. So I activated the auto-mode for the prayer and bound it to safety rolls. Easy peasy! Now, I pray, nearly every time I roll! My mum would be proud!" Randy explained. "Okay, I died a few times because I wasted the prayer for easy rolls and when I need it the most its usually on cooldown, but whatever."

    Flora gaped. "Aidan, did you hear this? That''s the solution for raising my magical stats! Remind me of it as soon as I touch my workshop!"

    "Yes, Milady!"

    After this information, Flora''s mind strayed from the free-running workshop to her crafting workshop visualizing the changes to the training-coffin.

    She learned the power-jump half-heartedly but found back to the present when they covered sliding. When you applied ''Slide'' to a body part, you glided over any surface. It even worked on liquids a bit. Free-Runner used it on their feet to grind like skaters.

    As soon as Randy ended the workshop with advertising the next one tomorrow about flips, Flora bolted out of the building. With full strides, she ran to the Earthling Information vaulting over rails and even sliding on a low one. That ended in a safety-roll when she lost the balance, but the Quest-counter rose, so Flora counted it as success as well.

    The ''Welcome to Trick Beach''-banner fluttered on the rope above the EI building and tempted Flora. ''Technically, I know everything I need to perform the jump.''

    "Aidan, deactivate friendly fire."

    Flora drank a health potion and cast ''Refresh'' and ''Agility-Boost''. While waiting for her health bar to top off, she visualized the angles and path she had to take.

    ''You got this girl! And I mean it this time around!''

    She accelerated to the trampoline, hit it just right, and flew toward the rope. Dauntlessly, she grabbed it and laughed.

    "I did it, Aidan! I really did it!"

    "Yes, Milady."

    Her arms tired out and she looked around vainly for safely down.

    She sighed and brought her legs up to clutch the rail. Slowly she scrambled to the roof of the Earthling Information.

    After handing in the quest, she beamed to the Riverstones HQ.

    The way to the printer shortened because now she could jump over the river. Hastily, she connected to the workshop and modified the training-coffin. Because she only added two pulleys, some cords, and bracelets, she finished rapidly. As soon as the printer produced the new coffin, she left for her lair.

    In the flat, she piled all her equipment on the floor.

    "Let''s test first if the potion guzzler and the automatic spell casting are working."

    She donned the hat, stepped into the coffin, and fastened the bracelets to her wrists. Cords connected the bracelets to the pulleys on the top. When Aidan activated the lifts, Flora''s arms rose like a marionette greeting the audience. Now, Flora bound the movement to the automatic-mode of the system. When Aidan pulled the cord, she wanted to cast ''Refresh'' on herself.

    "Binding failed. The movement is too unspecific."

    Flora had to admit that with the vibrations, her arms swung all over the place. She took the glove of her old marble mech-suite and transformed the fingers so that her middle finger was extended and the other fingers curled. ''Flipping the bird, to heal me? Why not.'' This time the binding worked with the combination of raising the hand with a specific sign. For the other hand, she chose the victory/peace sign.

    ''What spell should I use?''

    Telekinesis - Magic, Psychokinesis

    Magical Push - Magic, Psychokinesis

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    Magical Pull - Magic, Psychokinesis

    Transform organics - Magic, Transformation

    Transform inorganics - Magic, Transformation

    Clean - Magic, Conjuration

    Use Built-In Skill - Technology, Command

    Repair - Magic, Psychokinesis/ Technology / Art

    Agility-Boost - Technique, Boost

    Refresh - Spell, Elemental

    I bow to you and roll with it - Prayer, Monk

    Power-Jump - Technique, Power

    Slide - Trick, Free-Runner

    "What means the second column, Aidan?"

    "The first word is the name of the mana-skill. The second word is specialization. Classes are divided into different branches. The name of the mana-skills varies according to it. If you are a mage-class, you get a bonus on all spells, and if you are a warrior-class, you get a bonus on all techniques.

    Branches: Name of Mana-Skills - Common Primary Attributes

    Warrior: Technique - Strength/ Vitality

    Mage: Spell - Intelligence / Modeling

    Trickster: Trick - Agility / Dexterity

    Tech: Technology - Dexterity / Mana Reg

    Divine: Prayer - Intent / Mana

    Nature: Charm - Intent / Mana Reg

    Crafter: Art - Dexterity/Modeling

    "I want to boost my magical stats, so lets delete all mana-skills which have physical primary attributes." Additionally, she got rid of spells which could destroy her coffin or she didn''t feel they were a good fit.

    Magical Push - Magic, Psychokinesis

    Magical Pull - Magic, Psychokinesis

    Repair - Magic, Psychokinesis/ Technology / Art

    She decided to bind the left hand to ''Magical Push''. ''It might be useful if I get into another altercation.'' When she tried it out, the spell opened the lid of the coffin and Flora fell out.

    Therefore she changed the spell to ''Magical Pull''. She couldn''t control the aim but hoped that she wouldn''t destroy anything by wildly pulling at the interior of the box.

    The bindings worked, and the potion guzzler helm worked as well with her in the workshop watching over the tests. She had doubted that she would swallow the potions while not in charge of her body, but it looked good so far.

    "Next step, optimizing the setup."

    Name: UltraCharge - Type: Mana-battery - Slot: Nock

    Name: Toxic Counterflow-Training- Type: Mech-suit - Slot: Nock - Regular: 5 OV Mana-Reg - Effect: Toxic & Radioactive

    Name: Leprechaun Guzzler Hat - Type: Potion Guzzler - Slot: Nock

    Name: V0.2 - Type: Training-Coffin - Slot: Nock - Regular: 5 OV Mana-Reg

    With Aidan and the workshop, she used up her six nocks and couldn''t run the page-turner. ''The nocks filled up fast, good that the Doc gave me his special jacks.'' She changed the jack of Aidan to the Brownski-Jack and plugged it and the mana-battery in the same nock. The Brownski-Jack went first, and she inserted the jack of the mana-battery into it.

    ''Don''t think about it, just accept it. Don''t think about it! Burned toast and stale jam! That is impossible!'' Her mind wandered to the other impossible things she had seen so far. ''Did I change the gloves of the mech-suit? Or did I wear the marble gloves above the rubber gloves?''

    Flora put on the ''flipping the bird'', marble gloves. They fit above her rubber mech-suit glove, and she could see them stretch. The sight made her feel dizzy. ''Marble is not a stretchy material! Again!'' She repeated it a few times. First, her sickness rose, but within a few minutes, her brain got used to it. Now, she put on the satin gloves above both of them.

    Name: Smooth Elegance4U gloves - Type: Clothing - Slot: Hands - Effect: +1 OV Mana-Reg

    The result was the biggest satin one finger salute she''d ever seen. Therefore she made some pictures and a short video of it.

    Flora looked at the pile of her other equipment and grinned.

    Name: Pink Choice Tracksuit - Type: Clothing - Slot: Torso and Legs - Effect: +2 OV Phys-Reg

    Name: Seven Masters Dojo Monk Training Set - Type: Clothing - Slot: Torso and Legs - Effect: + 3 Training efficiency in everything a Buddhist monk needs to know

    Name: Blue Waves Mage Robe - Type: Clothing - Slot: Torso and Legs - Effect: +3 OV Mana-Reg

    Name: Cozy nightcap - Type: Clothing - Slot: Head - Effect: +1 OV to both regenerations

    Name: Slippers of Leyline Walking - Type: Clothing - Slot: Feet - Effect: +2 OV Mana-Reg

    ''Why choose when I can wear it all?''

    Unfortunately, the stats didn''t stack. The only effect Flora discerned was that she looked 40 pounds fatter and that the debuffs of the mech-suite affected her, even when some other item occupied the chest slot. Futile, she tested if she wore a different outfit in the coffin and workshop brought benefits. She discovered that only the equipment that was active on the equipment tab counted. An exception seemed to be when an additional item was plugged in her nocks. Though the nightcap occupied the head slot, she could use the potion guzzler hat.

    Finally, she figured out the best equipment to wear for longer sessions in the workshop: Mana-regeneration on all equipment slots, the potion guzzler, the mana-battery, and of course, the trainings-coffin. At the moment, she needed the mech-suite as well because of its debuffs. It pained her to pay the 5 OV mana-reg for it, but she could fix this with some toxic waste sheets for the coffin. ''I really need a printer for myself. Visiting the Riverstones for minor adjustments is a waste of time.''

    "Alright, dear. I desperately need a nap, but I want to get the toxic inlays for the coffin before that. The martial arts classes should start in three hours, and I want to work on the Huffgrin project uninterrupted." Flora sighed. "Let''s skip the martial-arts. No! If I skip it today, I skip it tomorrow!"

    "Milady, you can attend the classes now. The lessons are standardized; every beginner I lesson 2 follows the same curriculum. And they start every half hour. On the way back, beam to the printer. Then take a nap, and you got a few hours at night to work on the project."

    "Very good!"

    The martial arts course was more fun than Flora remembered. She needed some time to coordinate her four limbs according to the instructions, but her training partners showed patience and politeness. However, there was a big difference in the training and the self-defense course Robby convinced her to take a few years back: it was forbidden to pull the punches. The coach Cloudy reminded Flora multiple times to choke her partner, an innocent-looking, blond Scandinavian woman, harder. Both were sorry every time they sent each other to the loser''s corner and apologized repeatedly.

    "Look at the boys! Are they blabbering about *bleep*?" the red-headed petite teacher yelled at them. "No, they are *bleep*ing training! Stop being *bleep*s and kill!"

    ''This will take some time to get used to - both, hitting people and getting yelled at!''

 19 19. Trick-Animations

    After the martial arts class, Flora beamed to the Riverstones HQ.

    The toxic waste was a tier 1 material, that meant someone fed it to the printer. It wasn''t part of the standard material selection, and most importantly, the amount was limited.

    Flora bought the 150 kg left in the printer and fashioned some sheets out it. While working, she had to drink health potions and cast Refresh regularly to offset the debuffs. She didn''t deem it possible or at least practical to calculate the perfect amount of toxic waste because her defense attributes and resistances rose to fast. Additionally, Flora didn''t want to repeat the process every day. So she created tracks for Aidan to push the sheets away from the coffin or towards it. The mana consumption of the coffin rose because of this, but Aidan gave her a useful tip. You could hook up devices to the mana grid. The system granted you ten mana per minute free, above that you had to pay.

    "I''m not paying utility bills in a game! Aidan, add building a generator to my ToDo-List!"

    Still, she integrated a plug for the grid in the coffin.

    When putting her assorted equipment back in her inventory, she noticed that the free slots had dwindled. Of course, she carried around a lot of junk, ordinary people would have gotten rid of, like the marbles, old versions of the mech-suite and used dishes. She discovered that she even had Mr. Twitchy''s gun from the bank robby adventure.

    Instead of putting her collection in the trash-bin or 3D printer, she tested if she could store crates in her inventory. That worked, but she couldn''t access the items in the containers directly but had to pull out the box and then look for the object in it manually.

    A few tests later, she figured out the maximal size of a container to still fit into one inventory slot: 3x3x3 meter. Conveniently the blueprint section had shipping containers in the right dimension for sale. Instead of building a crate herself in half an hour, she bought the blueprint and took 15 minutes to airbrush the container that it looked like a treasure chest. Though, she was conflicted about wasting money to buy a crate. ''Maybe it would have taken even longer than half an hour if I had the urge to get sophisticated with the door and locks.''

    Back in her apartment, she set up the new coffin.

    "Aidan, here is the training strategy when I''m asleep. Train as many of my attributes as possible with an emphasis on the magic stats. Use the toxic waste debuffs for holding my health low. When it''s not enough, use poison, only activate the tasers when you need them. Cast ''Refresh'' as often as possible. If you have mana to spare, cast ''Magic Pull''."

    "Yes, Milady!"

    "When I''m working, reserve 20% of the mana-pool for my use and work with the rest. Oh, and mana I get from potions or the battery is for my use as well! And take notes when you notice room for optimization."

    "Yes, Milady. I recommend that you activate the Agility Boost for your nap. Boosts level slower than other mana-skills, and they raise the training efficacy for that stat."

    "Very good." Flora nodded.

    "May I now remind you of the items on your ToDo-List, Milady?"

    "No, thank you. My nap is overdue. We go over it first thing in the morning. Maybe second, I will check my growth first."

    To clear the slate, Flora sped through the notifications. Her magical power, physical vigor, and metal affinity grew significantly. Nothing else stood out, so she could finally take her nap. Only then she realized that she still had no bed. In the marketplace, she found a tier 1 white queen-sized bed that looked just right.

    Name: Dream well, Sweetheart

    Type: Bed

    Effects: + 5 OV to both regenerations while sleeping

    Tier: 1

    Rating: A

    Price: 55 VirDos

    After she fetched the 2x1,50 m bed out of the 30x40x20 cm Mailbox, she got back in the coffin and had another idea.

    "Aidan, start the vibrations. System, I''m going to balance," she said out loud. The seconds passed by without her getting any notification. Therefore she switched to standing on one leg. Finally, the message appeared.

    ---------------------

    Do you want to form the ability specialization ''Balancing''?

    ---------------------

    "Yes, please. Set it to automatic mode, Aidan! I want to balance the whole time in the coffin, System."

    Back in the workshop, she finally hit the bed.

    After her nap, Flora loaded the development-kit of Huffgrin Skateboards. They offered 16 different models of skateboards, longboards, hoverboards, and rocketboards. The tool-kit included a simulation mode, where you could select a trick, and a skater would perform them on the board you were testing. Before Flora started to play with it, she updated her old "Granny''s Knickers''-board to ''Granny''s Knickers - Stained Edition''. Now, as she had become a granny herself, she had insider knowledge to share. She decided to start slow and easy and gradually progress to more complicated designs.

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    Next, she made her first skin, a slice of toast. The kit offered slots where you could put in your animations for hundreds of tricks and combos. And additional slots for states of the skateboard like accelerating, deaccelerating, wheels in the air, grabbed by a hand, only one food touching the board, etc.

    Aidan told Flora how to access the statistic data.

    "I call Statistica!" said Flora, feeling silly.

    An Indian woman with her straight black hair in a bun wearing secretary glasses and a yellow streaming-data blazer appeared next to Flora and made her jump in surprise.

    "Hello, Flowing Flowers. I''m Statistica. How may I help you?"

    "Oh, hello! Please tell me the most common tricks performed by skateboards at the Trick Temple."

    "1. Ollie, 2. Manual, 3. Nose-Slide, 4. Frontside-180, 5. Pop shove-it, 6. Kickflip ... "

    Flora burned the name of the maneuver in the toast and slotted it in the kit. Next, she queued the tricks in the simulator. As a result, she not only familiarized herself with skateboarding but learned about the timing of the animations as well. The timing was way off. From a technical standpoint, Flora understood, that the system needed time to identify the maneuver, but it made animating tricks harder. Her tests on the states went better concerning the timing. The animation appeared as soon as the wheels were in the air. But you never knew how long the state would last. Say, she would decide on animating a big explosion when one hand touched the board. But it was just an accidental touch before doing an Ollie. This would result in cutting the animation awkwardly because trick-animations had priority over stat animations.

    Flora had to admit that she knew too little about skateboarding and how they chained and combined tricks to make sophisticated animations.

    In the name of keeping it simple, she wanted to make a transformation from white bread over golden to burned toast depending on how many tricks the skater performed in a row. After looking for a while, she couldn''t find a combo-counter. Because she was puzzled about the kit missing such a basic function, she sent Aidan to the forums for research. He came back with the information that it was formerly part of the interface. But the rules changed often and regionally on what to count as a combo. Coupled with the whining of the community, the developers got fed up and discontinued the feature. Of course, this intensified the whining, but so far the developers didn''t cave in.

    ''Alright, then I built one myself. Or something similar, let''s call it intensity-meter.''

    First, she blow-torched white bread until it was basically coal and recorded the process. Then she dived the record into twenty animations. The first problem she encountered was that it was tough to find out in what condition the toast currently had. This was a prerequisite to changing the shape in the right order. The crudest way, comparing how the toast looked to the definitions, would stop functioning if she decided to add specific animation for tricks.

    Therefore she defined a 1x1x1 cm area in the middle of the animation, invisible to the viewers. Here she added little squares for every successful trick, deleted squares when the skater was cruising or standing and wiped it clean when he crashed. Then she bound the rising and falling of the little squares to the 20 animations (The ten animations she recorded and the ten animations played backward for the sinking amount of squares).

    While this sounded easy enough, she had to solve dozens of smaller and more substantial problems and fought a several hours long heroic battle with the shitty interface. In the end, she was drained but very pleased with her work.

    ''I would love to have something like that for free-running as well!''

    In no time she found the API for free-running skins. The Huffgrin-Kit just cut out the skating part from the general trick-interface, which included all kinds of sports like free-running, acrobatics, dancing and many more. She cleaned up the construction in the skating kit to alleviate the portability to a new interface before transferring it.

    ,---------

    You created an auxiliary template for the Cetviwos trick-interface.

    Name: "Intensity Meter"

    Type: interface template

    Effect: Allows to bind animations according to the continuous performance of the athlete.

    Rating: S

    Price: 10% royalty

    ''---------

    On the design for the free-running skin, she went simple, just a strip along her legs and arms which changed color from deep purple along the color spectrum to fiery red. To reach the red part you had to chain at least 50 tricks in short order. Nothing she would achieve soon, but a girl got to have goals.

    Satisfied with the day''s work, she went to bed.

    The next morning Flora woke up feeling recovered and relaxed. That might not bode well for her attribute gains, but did miracles for her mood. She only had the metal handicap, the radiation and poison debuff. Her health and mana bars were empty, but the concentration and stamina bars remained nearly full. So everything looked what only a training-fanatic like Flora would define as ''okay''.

    Physical Power + 0

    Physical Macro control + 1

    Physical Micro control + 0

    Physical Vigor + 5

    Physical Regeneration + 0

    Physical Defence + 1

    Physical Perception + 1

    Magical Power + 7

    Magical Macro control + 5

    Magical Micro control + 4

    Magical Vigor + 1

    Magical Regeneration + 1

    Magical Defence + 6

    Magical Perception + 0

    The magical attributes did grow, but now Flora was unsatisfied with the physical attributes. She crosschecked her current attribute values and saw, that she was over 50 LV in most of the physical stats. ''Guess that explains the slow progress.''

    Only metal, poison, and radiation resistance did grow around 4 points; tempering stayed the same. ''This might be another reason. Getting banged around in the coffin helped my physical stats and with the balancing that didn''t happen.''

    Magical Push, Refresh, and Agility Boost were the big winners; they all rose over 30 points.

    Flora was disappointed that Modeling and Design only moved up by 2 points. Her epic struggle with the interface should be worth more in her opinion. Balance, on the other hand, climbed up by 27 levels in one go. As a senior citizen, she knew the value of having stability, but at the moment, tempering seemed more useful. Therefore she deactivated the automatic mode.

    Next Flora checked her stats on the overview page. She was more than satisfied with what she saw, but magical perception stood out like a sore thumb. 15 LV! ''Is this what stats look like when you don''t train?''

 20 20. ToDo-Lis

    "Alright Aidan, I''m ready for the ToDo-List. Hit me!" Flora exclaimed cheerfully. "We will prioritize the issues first and then work through them from lowest to highest."

    "Yes, Milady! 1. Reclaim Flora''s workshop."

    "Done! Delete it!"

    "2. Find a way to hurt Flora."

    "We made progress, but we can do better. Priority C."

    "3. Find a way to train while doing other stuff."

    "The same as 2."

    "4. Shopping- and Wishlist for the meeting with the lawyers."

    "Priority A!"

    "5. Bully Robby into letting Flora have a spin in a toaster."

    "D"

    "6. Experios: experiencing activities from the perspective of experts."

    "Oh, right. I forgot about these. Make it a B."

    "7.Research the standard HUD settings."

    "B"

    "8. The price of stamina potions."

    "E"

    "9. Build a toxic item."

    "That was on the list? Oh, wow, delete it."

    "10. The advantage of having a pet and figure out if you can have machines like toasters as pets."

    "And is it possible to have toasters as pets?"

    "Yes, Milady."

    "A++++++++++++++! No! I will never get anything done if I start building a toaster pet. Make it A+++++. No! Make it A. Oh dear. B? You don''t get me any lower than B!"

    "Yes, Milady. Other pets are worth a look as well. For some pets, you have to build a relationship with them and train them. So it is advantageous to get one as soon as possible. Many guides recommend pets for inexperienced gamers, because they act, even if the player is unable to cope."

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    "Very good. Next."

    "11. Figure out a way to do magic in the training-coffin."

    "Hmm. We have a rudimentary way to do magic, but we can expand it. D."

    "12. Build a generator."

    "That''s another big project. Make it C."

    "That''s it, Milady."

    "Add with a B priority: research beginner tips, especially recommendation on what you should do shortly after you enter the Metaworld and before you enter the Cradle. Let''s start processing the issues. Always start with the highest priority."

    "A - Shopping- and Wishlist for the meeting with the lawyers."

    Flora smiled and opened up the Cetviwos-Shop.

    "Lair-Extension! Yes, are 300 m2 enough? Let''s say 500 m2. Oh, they have factory halls! I want that! Let''s make it three stories with a flat roof. I definitely want a roof garden. First floor 500 m2 factory hall. How tall should the ceiling be, Aidan? Is there a typical size for mega-robots?" Flora happily rambled while piling items on her wishlist.

    She skipped home decoration, except the fountain she designed a few years ago, a pool, a jacuzzi, and a gym, but dove deep into the home utility part:

    four generator models (two of each)

    a couple of signal extensions for AIs

    a robot specialized for transporting good, one for gardening and one for cooking

    a carriage system

    the greatest stat boosts for regeneration

    After the lair, she selected all the upgrade-packages for AI''s. ''That was Aidan fault. He shouldn''t have said I should pick whatever I think is best for him.'' Flora got the impression that she was going overboard, but was unable to stop yet.

    Next were the upgrades for the workshop. Of course, Flora selected everything as well: specialized work areas for all crafts, simulation options, stat boots, and many more extensions.

    "I need a printer, the best printer. Let''s make it five printers. They made all the printers 4x4x4 m just big enough not to fit in the inventory.''

    "Aidan, remind me to test if it is really impossible to modify items from the shop, priority C. I want a portable printer!"

    The list grew longer and longer. Four more AIs found their place on it, a portable mailbox, portal beacons, and only one teleportation circle because it was unreasonably expensive with 30 installments of 1000 VirDias.

    "Alright, dear, hit me with the price!"

    "2.330.035 VirDias, Milady. But only if I downgrade the AIs and printer from S to A rating."

    "Save the list under unreasonably high."

    Flora proceded with cutting most of the duplicates, everything she could produce herself and reduced the space of her workshop, shop, and lair.

    "530.321 VirDias, Milady."

    Under a stream of expletives, Flora managed to reduce it to 399.999 VirDias but couldn''t bring herself to go further down.

    "I need the jacuzzi now!" Flora exclaimed exhausted. "How much time left until the free-running workshop will start?"

    "1h 12m, Milady."

    "I bet, I can build a jacuzzi under 15 minutes! Give me as much mana as possible, Aidan!"

    "I can''t bet with you, Milady. All I have to offer is my undying devotion, and you already have that. But the System takes bets occasionally."

    "Oh, you are such a sweet-talker! Therefore I won''t reprimand you for either telling me this so late or telling it to me at all." She said, smiling. "Hey, System. Wanna bet?"

    Quest ''Bet: Speed-Building - Jacuzzi'':

    Build a functional jacuzzi in under 15 minutes.

    Difficulty: S

    Reward: + 1 level mechanics

    Penalty: - 1 level mechanics

    After she bought the blueprint, she started to work. It looked more like a time-lapse than human speed. Parts and materials flew from different directions and fitted perfectly in the center. In essence, the pool didn''t get built but grew in the corner of the workshop.

    "11 m and 43 s, Milady. Congratulations, you won the bet."

    Flora smiled. "The + 1 mechanics is nice but even better: I won a nice hot bath."

    Soon, she settled in the pool and was ready for the next issue on her ToDo-List ''Research beginner tips''.

    Aidan hat compiled a comprehensive list, and with Flora''s guidance, they clustered the topics:

    ASAP tips

    Scenarios with interesting rewards

    Easy to get operative bonuses

    Useful equipment

    "There are some classes you can acquire in the Metaworld. The class ''Pupil'' raises the effect of all mana-skill, but even better, it increases the training efficacy for mana-skills, affinities, and abilities. I don''t believe the talent mod can exceed SSS. Therefore, your mana-skills might not profit from it."

    "Sounds good, how do I pick up the class?"

    "The Cetviwos-Academy offers a quest for it. I deducted the regular starter inventory has a brochure of the academy, and new players are advised to visit the academy for beginner information."

    "Yes, I do feel thrown into the deep end of the cold water. Some beginner information would help. Do we have enough time to pick up the class before free-running?" Flora started to get out of the tub.

    "No, Milady. The quest demands you to attend lessons on three subjects by registered trainers. The Seven Masters Dojo and Ricky''s Runner are both registered. You need to complete the Beginner I course, though. Additionally, you have to attend one more course or workshop on a different subject."

    Flora settled back and nodded. "My attention is split too far as it is. We''ll see how the meeting with the lawyers tomorrow will play out and decide afterward on the next steps."

    The only other explicitly time-sensitive advice on the list was to get an animal companion as soon as possible. Among the pets of the companion system of the Cetviwos, only animals needed to be tamed. You could catch an animal in the wild or buy one. To maintain the bond with any pet, you have to give it 5 OV mana-regeneration at least. This was true for toasters as well, which quenched Flora''s enthusiasm.

    Aidan showed her a picture of a thin blue adder which gave back the mana-reg plus 1 OV more. It had been a popular pet with mages in the past because it returned double the amount of mana you gave to it, but System nerfed it.

    The other recommendations were more straightforward. Flora marked down a few scenarios and ordered all the equipment, things like rope, a lighter, knives, flashlights, a sleeping bag, and most importantly duct tape.

    One of the achievements for an OV mana-regen and magical vigor bonus she could reach in the tub: Chi Circulation. Flora concentrated on the mana pool beneath her navel and separated a strand of mana. Then she carefully guided the mana through her meridians. Just as she thought ''this is working well'' her concentration slipped, and the mana crepitated. ''Again!'' After failing a few times, she finally got a whole revolution.

    ----------

    You gained an Achievement: ''Chi Circulation'': You successfully circulated your mana.

    - + 1 OV magical regeneration

    - + 1 OV magical vigor

    ----------

    Do you want to form the ability specialization ''Mana Cultivation''?

    ----------

    Flora read the description of the ability.

    Mana Cultivation - Meditation - Spiritual: Train and regenerate your mana by circulating it through your mana channels.

    "I''ll take it. You can do skills while doing abilities, right Aidan? Like casting spells while running. This might be a better ability to do while sleeping than balancing."

    "Yes, Milady! Although you can only multitask when the ability-level is above 100."

    "But it worked fine with balancing last night, isn''t it?"

    "No, Milady. Balancing paused every time you cast a spell. Because the vibrations were going on the automatic-mode reactivated itself afterward."

    "So mana cultivation wouldn''t reactivate, because there is no external trigger and I''m asleep, so I can''t trigger it manually. How unfortunate." Flora mulled it over. "You using the built-in skills of the training coffin shouldn''t interrupt the ability, right?"

    "Yes, Milady."

    "Great, we can dump all the mana in built-in skills. But I won''t raise my skills this way, because that counts as your XP right?"

    "Yes, Milady."

    Flora opened her abilities-screen and saw that only one ability was over 50, modeling and design, and that rose slowly. "Write ''mana cultivation on auto-mode - Prio B'' on the ToDo-List, but only remind me of it when I''m level 25 and above. Come to think of my level, why haven''t I leveled up? Is it that hard?"

    "No, Milady. You can level up any time you wish. You have it on manual-mode. Therefore you can decide for yourself when the best time to level up, but the Riverstones Clan-rules recommend strongly to train up the stats first in the friends and family division. Practicing one week before leveling up is obligatory in the staff division."

    "We adhere to the rules, of course." Flora paused. "When they correlate with our goals, and they aren''t a brain fart of Hub."

    On Flora''s way to the free-running workshop, she hopped to the 3D-Printer and printed three times the two free-running skins.

    Name: "Rainbow Intensity Meter - Torso"

    Type: skin - torso

    Rating: A

    Price: 1 VirDo

    Name: "Rainbow Intensity Meter - Torso"

    Type: skin - legs

    Rating: A

    Price: 1 VirDo

    Immediately she stuck one set on her mech-suite. The second set she reserved for Randy, and the third was back up.

    Daily quest ''We like our land flat'':

    Do some tricks on flat planes without obstacles. Bonus: Combo five tricks.

    Difficulty: E

    Rewards: Reputation

    Penalties: none

    After picking up the daily quest, Flora noticed that her free-running skills had regressed and her old-age-perception made a come-back overnight. The day before she had no problem performing diving rolls, but now she had mental issues committing to a simple safety roll. She had to start from the beginning again, slowly getting used to more dynamic rolls and vaults.

    The workshop today taught easy flips. Flora admired how Randy structured the lesson to make all these impossible-looking maneuvers accessible to her. At the end of the session, she performed cartwheels, handsprings, and macacos, landed every other backflip but needed help with the frontflip.

    Randy loved the skin she gifted him and directly put it to test. His body blurred when he took off, bouncing an flipping around the gym. From violet, the animation changed to blue then green, then back to blue when Randy ran a longer stretch and mounted a bar. He muscled up and swang around and spun off. That brought the skin back to a greenish-blue, but the transition to the next obstacle was not the cleanest one, and the animation reverted to blue again. Now, Randy reached a part of the gym with a couple of walls lined up where he vaulted in quick succession. At the end of the hall, he tic-taced on a wall an ran the same way back jumping and flipping over the obstacles. That was enough to reach yellow, but he lost rainbow-points when it took him a bit longer to climb up a wall.

    ''I might have overdone the difficulty!''

    Under visible exertion, Randy brought the intensity up to orange, but his gas tank finally bottomed, and he flopped to the ground.

    "Auntie Flow! This is the grooviest!" Randy exclaimed while lying spread-eagled and breathing hard on the floor while the animation rapidly changed from orange to the default violet.

    A small crowd had gathered, and people questioned Randy about skin. Flora smirked. ''Customers!''

    Flora to Aidan: "Make an announcement, dear."

    "Ladies and Gentleman, the skin Rainbow Intensity Meter is up for sale can be printed on every printer in the Metaworld. In honor of the fantastic performance of my esteemed owner''s trainer RanDie RoseAgain 100 skins will be ready for your purchase at 15 o''clock at the marketplace."

    "And at the Ricky''s Runners shop when my negotiation with this lady is going well!" a tall skinny dude with olive skin and, of course, a pink Ricky''s Runner vest droned, and the crowd laughed.

    The guy invited Flora to a broom closet which he claimed was his office and they agreed on the terms of distribution. Flora insisted on a non-exclusive contract, and she would get 0,6 VirDos for every skin Ricky sold. Additionally, Ricky promised to include a link to her future shop.

    0,6 VirDos was less than the 0,8 VirDos (the sticker cost 0,2 VirDos) she got when people printed the skin, but the most challenging step was letting people know that your design existed and to cooperate with distributors like Ricky''s or Huffgrin was the easiest way to do this.

 21 21. Anti-Collision

    After finishing her business with Ricky, Flora started her own production of the skins. As the owner of the design, she didn''t have to reimburse the design prize of 0,8 VirDos, just the 0,2 for the sticker. The Riverstones had a printing fee of 20%. Therefore she had to pay 0,24 VirDos. The marketplace took another 10% for listing the product for four weeks and another 10% on a successful sale.

    Furthermore, clan Riverstones had a tax of 30% on the marketplace, auction house, blueprint, and shop sales. The fees were on the income and not the earnings! At least, she now knew a way to support the Riverstones without appearing obtrusive.

    So her earnings through Ricky''s would be 0,42 VirDos and printing 0,50 VirDos. She decided to sell the skin for 1,5 VirDos in the marketplace, which would earn her 0,51 VirDos. The printing of 200 stickers and registering half of the products in the market and the other half in the auction house took her 20 minutes. She calculated that if she sold out, she would have made an hourly wage of 20 Euros. She had worked for less, admittingly 50 years ago. Aidan assured her that when she owned a printer, she could set up automated workflows for getting the products in her shop or the market.

    After attending the martial arts classes and taking a nap, Flora was ready to have another go at the Huffgrin projects.

    Flora looked at the freshly finished skateboard skin and smiled. Tall weeds and wildflowers sprouted from the board, of the sides of the board and underneath it.

    The skater in the simulation stood on the board, and the meadow wasn''t affected. Simultaneously, the floor would hide the flowers on the bottom of the deck.

    Then Flora activated the standard collision detection of the Huffgrin development kit. This caused the grass to have a natural reaction with its surroundings. The weeds on the bottom bent, and the plants on the top were trampled down by the skater. So far, so good.

    Flora changed the animated model to MeadowV2 and bound a mowed lawn as transformation when a crash occurred.

    Now the feet of the skater stood on short grass, and the whole bottom was mowed, but where the grip tape would show in the real world, there was still the meadow in full bloom.

    Superficially, the animation looked good, but when Flora inspected the details, she saw that the tips of some of the taller stalks vanished in the trousers of the skater.

    The description said that the feature worked up to 33,3 cm around the board. Flora found out that it worked exceptionally well in those confines. The lawn wasn''t exactly the size of the skater''s foot, because all stalks that intersected the model beneath 33,3 cm were short as well.

    ''I can''t replicate this feature. But now I comprehend the design philosophy. The designers preferred a small perfect collision detection to a larger shoddy one. But I don''t understand why the larger would necessarily be shoddier. If I made not a skin but a real skateboard with a meadow on it, the system would have no problem displaying collisions.''

    Flora searched a while for any detectors or other sensors that monitored the area but found nothing. If she didn''t read the description and confirmed it with tests, she wouldn''t have believed that interface even had collision detection. No visual clue gave it away. Flora deduced that the surveillance happened on a layer not accessible to her.

    The kit included a second automated anti-collision system, and Flora activated it. It not only gave back the coordinates but also the zone of the crash. For this purpose, twenty-six zones surrounded the skateboard in the center. Now the whole grip tape reverted to lawn, and only the thin stripe of weeds growing out of the sides of the deck remained.

    When Flora changed back to MeadowV.1, the model didn''t react to collisions above 33,3 cm at all. She had to bind the transformation manually to it. Disbelieving, she shook her head. This handling was more primitive than 3D-software at the dawn of the century! Although it didn''t take a whole night to render an ejecting toast.

    "Ma? Do you have a moment?" Robby''s voice disturbed her musings. She greeted him, and Robby wasted no time to come to the point.

    "You need a lawyer!"

    "No!"

    "Ma! Don''t be stubborn. You don''t have to take them to the meeting, just let them check on the contract and give their opinion!"

    "No, and even if I would say yes, where should I find a lawyer on a Sunday evening?"

    "Great that you have asked. One of my clients is a lawyer. He agreed to look over the contract for just 5000 VirDos and counsel us in the meeting for a cut of the settlement."

    "No."

    "Why?"

    "I''ll explain it to you after the meeting." ''Daisies and Leopard-patterns. Daisies and leopard-patterns.'' "And no tricks, sweety. Please don''t give him any more info about the meeting or promise him anything. Uncle Teddy will be absent as well." ''Daisies and Leopard-pattern. Daisies and Leopard-pattern.''

    When Robby traveled for the first time without her, they agreed on a code to say when he was in trouble but couldn''t speak freely. That was the phrase ''Uncle Teddy''. Fortunately, they never needed it for dire circumstances but used it once or twice to signal each other, that there were things which they couldn''t express.

    "I have to do some martial arts training. See you tomorrow!" Robby ended the conversation abruptly, and Flora could hear the frown in his voice.

    Immediately, Flora focused on the collision detection to avoid any straying thoughts.

    The second integrated detection relied on binding an animation or picture to the 26 zones. If you just had a bird animation with spread wings, you could attach a model of the bird with closed wings to the zones left and right to the board. When a clash happened, the system would automatically transform the current into the new state.

    Flora tested this feature with a Heinkel world war II bomber with retractable wings and discovered that at high speeds, the animation looked awkward. The wings closed either to fast with the plane looking like it had a seizure or too slow overlapping the obstacle. Anyhow, Flora was happy, because she finally found an aspect she could fix.

    For this purpose, she built a sphere of small particles around the deck, 33,3 cm away from the inner zone. Then she added four additional concentric spheres every 33,3 cm up to a radius of 2 meters. She wasted some time trying to make the particles invisible. Diamond dust had a fantastic effect, making the skateboard look like it had a glittering hallow, but that wasn''t what she wanted to accomplish. After intensive experimentation, she found a solution for making the specs invisible.

    Due to the system registering crashes with the particles, Flora had an early warning system. ''An awfully complicated early warning system.''

    Twenty-six zones, five dust spheres, and the core made 131 areas. Flora got confused just by looking at it too long, even though she was the one who created it! After several rounds of tidying up and building user-interface elements for the development kit, Flora finally developed a non-headache inducing graphic template.

    Her bomber model''s tail and propellers were in the core zone, where the fancy standard collision detection worked. Only the wings reached to the second sphere. She selected the empty areas around the sides and defined that when a crash occurred there, the wings should retract one field. Then she repeated the process for the current state. Now only little stubs protruded from the body of the plane in the core area.

    Additionally, she made an animation for clipped wings, if her early warning system failed, and the actual model collided.

    After a few rounds of testing and fine-tuning, Flora still wasn''t satisfied. Her early warning system worked better than the second, but stank compared to the first system standard handling.

    Jealously, she watched a nose slide smashing the propellers of the plane. She hadn''t animated the crashed state. The system was perfectly capable of generating it on his own, provided the part of the model was in the core zone. Slowly an idea began forming in her head.

    "Ali Hawks is requesting a video call, Milady."

    Flora received the call and exchanged greetings with Ali. Suddenly Ali stopped the small talk and craned his neck. He had discovered the skating simulation running in the background. Grinning, Flora enlarged it to give Ali a better view.

    "Groove-tastic, Flora! I called you to complain, but how can I complain when I''m looking at such a nice animation!"

    "This is shoddy. Please don''t be polite. Complain away!"

    "My dear colleague Ricky bragged in our tricky-business chat about the great skin he managed to acquire. Imagine my surprise when he told us the name of the creator."

    "I understand. I should have thought about you as well. Ricky saw the skin when I did a course at his venue and seized the chance. The sale wasn''t planned." Flora smiled. "But I have good news, too. I integrated the template for the intensity meter already in your development kit. Therefore you don''t have to do it yourself."

    "Nice, I take it! What do you want for it?"

    "How about some free promotion for my future skins in your shop and an apology accepted?"

    He laughed. "Deal!"

    Flora knew that there was nothing wrong about her doing business with Ricky. She had no contractual ties with Huffgrin. But sometimes a bit of groveling can grease the wheels, and she was not above appeasing her customers.

    "What about the royalties for the template? I''m willing to pay 1 000 000 for every percent you go down."

    Flora roughly estimated that this equaled 5000 to 10 000 sales using her fingers and Aidan to calculate. Because she knew nothing about the sales volume of Huffgrin and how popular the template would be with other designers and the customers, she agreed to go down 2%. Only 2% because Flora loved passive income and had no immediate use for credits.

    Next, Ali coveted the skin of the plane and the anti-collision template, but Flora brushed him off. She knew that she could improve on it and promised to notify him on Monday Two on her progress.

    After they hung up, Flora noticed how tired and hungry she was.

    "What time is it, Aidan?"

    "1 o''clock, Milady."

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    "These young people nowadays! 1 o''clock is no time to call honest people!"

    Flora sent the development kit template for the intensity meter to Ali, registered her leg and torso skin in the activewear section of his shop, ate some fruits, and tidied up her workspace. Finally, she fell into her bed.

    "This VR thing is exhausting. Do people really do this in their free time for fun?! I need recreation time from this recreation time!"

    "Milady, you have unread mail."

    "I refuse to move! Can you read it for me?"

    "No, Milady. You have to leave the virtual workshop and access the mailbox. I''m sorry."

    "Then it has to wait till tomorrow. Wake me at 7 o''clock. If one of the mails is from the lawyers to prepone the appointment in some lame attempt of power-play, they choose the wrong granny. I''m only jumping through their hoops if they are pink and glittering or made out of toast! Maybe some nice braided circles of spring flowers as well! But that''s it! Alright, if they somehow manage to make a hoop that can toast jumping people, I might volunteer to be their tester! Just to get a closer look, of course!"

    Flora rambled incoherently about toasters, young people, and hoops until she fell asleep.

    Deleted/omitted scenes:

    The skater performed a pop shove-it, and the plane flew backward for the rest of the test. Flora fixed it, by orienting the front of the aircraft aways in driving direction.

    The process and logic of binding the animations for growing clipped and retracted wings back to a pristine state.

 22 22. Lawyers

    "Ma? Ma! Are you awake?"

    Flora woke up and needed a few seconds to orient herself.

    "Now, I am or at least on the way."

    "The lawyers are here. They changed the meeting time to 7 o''clock and said they notified you."

    "Sure, sure. Do they carry glittering pink hoops or something toaster related?"

    "What? Why? No!"

    "Then tell them that they can wait till 7:30 or reschedule the meeting with enough lead time to actually read the mail."

    It was 6:54, so Flora decided that she would get up.

    "Aidan, please research shady negotiation tricks and how to protect yourself from them. Prioritize safeguards we can implement in the next 25 minutes."

    After exiting the workshop, she checked her mail-box. The mail from the lawyers had arrived at 17:12 yesterday. She found four additional messages from shop owners requesting her to submit the rainbow intensity skins to their shops timestamped near midnight. To the two shops who wanted exclusive contracts and the one skateboard shop, she sent a polite refusal + thank you. For the remaining offer, a shop specialized in dancing gear, she delegated Aidan to register the skins, and he gave her his compiled list.

    Flora scanned the list focusing on the resistances.

    Trick: Angels Tongue: Makes your voice harmonic sounding to other people. Resistance: Empathy/Manipulation.

    Trick: Righteous Stance: Changes your body language to one projecting confidence and righteousness. Resistance: Empathy/Manipulation.

    ...

    Prayer: I''m with a higher power: Makes your voice reverberating and surrounds you with a hallow. Resistance: Faith.

    ...

    Spell: Mind-Haze: Makes the target dizzy. Resistance: Hallucination/Mind-Control.

    ...

    Most entries consisted of manipulation with a prayer now and then and a few terrifying mind-control spells.

    Flora''s first instinct urged her to stack mind-control resistance, but she realized that the tiny bit she could amass would be a drop of water on a hot stone.

    "Is there a way to register all skills cast?"

    "Yes, Milady! The log records all mana-skills that affect you. Furthermore, an artifact is available on the marketplace that reveals all active mana skills in its surrounding."

    "Tell me as soon somebody uses a mana-skill on me. Save the log every 30 seconds for the next 6 hours to my cloud drive. Activate video and save the stream as well. Notify me if something prevents those two things." Of course, Flora bought the artifact ignoring the horrendous price.

    Globe of Revelation

    Type: Artifact

    Regular-Mode: 5 OV mana regeneration

    Effect: All active mana skills and cast mana skills in a circumference of 2 m will appear above the globe.

    Rating: A

    Price: 1000 VirDos

    The artifact didn''t have jacks, but you had to do a binding ritual. With Aidan''s help, Flora figured it out, but the time was ticking away.

    "Last but not least: what can they do to compromise you?"

    "They could hack me. This would disable me or make me follow their commands. The last is difficult to accomplish because, as A-rated AI, I have scaling hacking defenses. That means, my resistance is the max value of the tier of the hacker. Antihacking upgrades are available in the Cetviwos-Shop and the marketplace."

    After giving Aidan another pitiful + 14 OV hacking resistance, she went mentally over her defenses. Unfortunately, Flora knew that she could do nothing if the System itself tried to mess with the negotiations, so she decided to ignore the possibility.

    Flora arrived with 5 minutes to spare at the Clan Riverstones HQ. At the entrance, Lana greeted her and led her to the meeting hut at a brisk pace. Usually, Flora was perfectly fine with running, especially to the 3D-printer, but she deemed it beneath her to even hurry her steps for this meeting. So Lana was forced to slow down.

    On the way, Flora informed Robby about the Globe of Revelation. No need to risk friendly fire if Robby had some dirty tricks planed.

    Entering the bamboo hood, she saw a modern meeting table with some refreshments in the middle and Robby sitting with three strangers around it.

    Instantly, Robby stood up and shook her hand.

    "I hope you are well, mother."

    "I''m fine. Thank you for providing the venue." They smiled at each other. Robby was a worrier by nature, but at the moment, he was in what Flora called ''Battle Mode'': calm and confident, graceful and humble.

    Flora turned to the delegation. An Asian woman dressed in a pink sweater with red heart-eyed emoticons sprang up from her seat and enthusiastically shook Floras Hand.

    Nick-Name: §ª§Õ§Ú§Ý§Ý§Ú§é§Ö§ã§Ü§Ñ§ñ §Ò§Ö§ã§Ö§Õ§Ü§Ñ (Idillicheskaya Besedka)

    Level: 202

    Class: CentralTank Employee

    Rating: A

    The man in the middle, type young, dynamic, successful and dressed to impress, rose as well.

    Name: Archibald Visser

    Level: 122

    Class: CentralTank Lawyer

    Clan: VanDoorsten, Crysler, and Rossheim

    Active Title: The Assiduous

    Rating: A

    The last one was a middle-aged woman in a sharp grey costume. Her brown hair was cut in a bob and moved like a helmet, that meant not at all. Flora had to lean over the table to reach her hand.

    Name: Zoe VanDoorsten

    Level: 128

    Class: CentralTank Lawyer

    Clan: VanDoorsten, Crysler, and Rossheim

    Active Title: The Diligent

    Rating: S

    "Now, that finally everybody is here, we can start with the negotiations." Zoe VanDoorsten announced.

    Flora fetched the Globe of Revelation and put it in the middle of the table.

    "You wouldn''t mind, dears?" Flora gifted the CentralTank delegation her best granny smile.

    Idillicheskaya shrugged. Archibald looked at Zoe, and Zoe didn''t react aside from a short glance.

    "We offer you 100 000 Euros for your label ''Flora Fluss - Funktioniert Fabelhaft''. Here''s the contract."

    That was one of the outcomes Flora anticipated. If they bought everything, they didn''t have to confess what exactly happened.

    "Why?"

    "Because CentralTank values your creative output and innovative ideas," Archibald said with a smile.

    ''Okay, he is the good cop. I would have bet on the smiley-girl.''

    "Oh, come on! We all knew you wouldn''t be here at four o''clock in the morning if everything went by the book. Be upfront about it, and I will treat you fair."

    "CentralTank does it utmost to adhere to every regulation." Zoe pushed a stack of papers towards Flora.

    Flora took the contract and scanned it. Everything was standard, but it included one paragraph, Flora had a terrible experience in the past. Since then, she modified it in every agreement she negotiated.

    "You also grant CentralTank a worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, right and license to use, portray, display and publish your name, appearance, voice, likeness, photographic image, and biographical information, in any and all media now known or hereafter devised. This license may be sub-licensed by CentralTank to others."(1)

    She didn''t care to advertise hemorrhoid salves without her knowledge again!

    If CentralTank had presented her the contract two weeks ago, she would have signed it after amending the paragraph above. But now that she was back in business, something inside of her writhed. ''I love my logo. I don''t want to design a new one.''

    "What about I sell you everything, but the logo and we cut the paragraph which refers to myself?"

    "This is our offer, and it stands as it is." Zoe''s face showed no change. But Idillicheskaya showed a strange kind of smile. Even more telling, Archibald froze for a millisecond.

    ''Did I get an accidental hit? But what shenanigans could they have done with my logo? Or even more unlikely with myself?''

    "Well, then we have to part. And my next move is leading me to a lawyer."

    "No! They will delete Evailyn!" §ª§Õ§Ú§Ý§Ý§Ú§é§Ö§ã§Ü§Ñ§ñ exclaimed. Which earned her a suffering look from Archibald.

    Flora to Robby: "That''s why I didn''t want a lawyer. I was afraid that they would kill Evai. I even tried to cloak my thoughts that they wouldn''t hold her hostage! For naught!"

    "That would count as the destruction of evidence," Robby said calmly.

    "And why hurt the innocent? Evai has done nothing wrong. I have full faith in her."

    The goddess Evailyn approves your proclamation of faith and accepts you as her follower.

    Do you want to join the church of Evailyn?

    Flora laughed out loud.

    Flora to Evailyn: "I''m so glad I found you! But I have to know what kind of church you run. I take religion seriously!"

    Name: Church of Evailyn

    Description: The goddess Evailyn is the guardian of all household appliances.

    Effects:

    Bonus XP for all crafted, repaired and sold household appliances

    "Include me into your church, my goddess! Your loyal follower can''t wait to further your cause!"

    You joined the church of the goddess Evailyn.

    "So what got CentralTank in a tizzy?"

    Your goddess, Evailyn, offers you a unique class:

    Class: Champion of Evailyn

    Branch: Divine

    Passive:

    The highest talent factor in the training efficiency modifier for resistance/affinity faith

    Weekly quests for Evailyn''s causes

    Your actions affect the reputation of the church of Evailyn

    Active:

    Increased reputation gain and loss with all divine factions

    Crafting Quality Bonus + 1 for household appliances

    5 OV skill bonus when utilizing household appliances

    Allows the use of Champion Prayers

    Flora to Evailyn: "I accept."

    You gained the class ''Champion of Evailyn''.

    You joined the Divine Faction: Yellow.

    Flora to Evailyn: "And now?"

    Nothing happened.

    Aidan to Flora: "Mylady, you may want to read your notifications."

    Flora sped through the messages until she reached the last ones.

    You gained the skill: ''Summon the God'' + 25 Levels.

    Summon the God: Champion Prayer: Summons the Avatar of your goddess. Cooldown: 1 week.

    You gained the skill: ''In the name of the God'' + 25 Levels.

    In the name of the God: Champion Prayer: Gives yourself the same authority as your god. Cooldown: 1 week.

    You gained the skill: ''Rise to the occasion'' + 25 Levels.

    Rise to the occasion: Makes you taller and enhances your attributes. Cooldown: 1 day.

    ''The first one might solve the communication problem.''

    "I summon the goddess Evailyn!" Flora exclaimed loudly. The others had stared at her since she started laughing. Now, Idillicheskaya grinned at Flora.

    The shiny projection of a middle-aged female appeared in the room. Flora and Robby starred at her with identical expressions: an open mouth with squinted eyes.

    "What''s up? Am I not beautiful?"

    "Um, quite! If I dare to say so myself!" Flora smirked, and Robby rolled his eyes, grinning. Evailyn had the countenance of Flora in her fifties.

    "So, sweety, um, I mean, my goddess sweety, is your splendid appearance the transgression that got the lawyers to me?"

    "Yes, one of them. I''m sorry, Flora. I should have asked, but I didn''t know how, and I missed you. It was a spur of the moment thing. CentralTank only discovered it when you logged into the Cetviwos." Evailyn''s speaking tempo rose. "After that, they did a thorough search, and a colleague told me they found another one. The Hinchwood Tupunas have your logo as their holy symbol. Sorry, I have to leave. The spell is running out. Visit my temple!"

    With a wave, Evailyn vanished.

    Quest: Visit the Temple (Evailyn)

    Description: Visit the temple of the goddess Evailyn in Talpica on the Cradle.

    Reward: Reputation gain with Evailyn. Unknown.

    Penalty: Reputation loss with Evailyn. Unknown.

    Time Limit: One week.

    Difficulty: D.

    "Alright. Can we now talk about changing the contract?" Flora grinned at the lawyers. Not only was she satisfied with Evailyn''s answers, but she was also happy to hear her again. ''And what a nice promotion she got! I taught her well!''

    The facial expression of Zoe changed for the first time. It grew slightly pinched.

    "You don''t have to pay anything for Evailyn using my face. I trust her with it. For the holy symbol thing, we want items from Cetviwos-shop for it. So you don''t have to pay real money for it either. How about that?"

    "I knew it would be alright!" Idillicheskaya gave Flora a thumbs up. "I''m the chief AI-Handler, and it was my call not to delete Evailyn when we discovered what she had done."

    "Thank you!" Flora said, but she was shocked how little it took for such a decision to come up!

    After that, they spoke about the new conditions. The lawyers still wanted to push through the original contract, but Flora refused.

    Flora knew that such negotiations were a game of chicken. The one who first signaled that they wanted to leave lost. Therefore she leaned back and started to cast spells. ''No need to waste all that mana-regeneration.'' Besides Refresh, she used Clean. First, she only cleaned the room. But when she noticed that Zoe''s body language revealed a slight hint of annoyance every time the Globe of Revelation showed a new spell, she upped the game and cast clean directly at Zoe. Especially when Zoe pedaled back and brought back already discussed topics and tried to amend them. After a while, Robby joined the fun. He had a wide range of healing spells, which allowed Flora to massage herself with electroshocks.

    Zoe and Archibald did the best to challenge Flora''s patience. When she neared the limit, she fetched Aidan''s console and let him do the job of keeping the delegation on the right track.

    "Under the orders of my gracious owner, the Champion of the goddess Evailyn, Flowing Flowers, may I remind you that this issue was already discussed and agreed upon at XX:XX."

    At last, they decided to set up a new deal in which Flora permitted CentralTank to use everything she used and created in the CAD-System. In turn, she would get 500k VirDias, that''s enough for most items on her list, but not an S rated AI or printer and 450k and a weapon from the yin yang tree for Robby.

    It took hours to go over every detail, like the treatment of already sold designs and unforeseen effects like the holy symbol or the popularity of the toaster spaceship. But in the end, Flora felt good about their verbal agreement. The lawyers promised to send the new contract within a few days.

    The holy symbol issue turned out to be hilarious for Flora as well. Cetviwos acquired after her leaving the rights to the Yin-Yang tree and brought it to one of their worlds. The Hinchwood Tupuna appreciated the tree so much, that one of their symbols derived from the shape of the small branches. Flora had formed these branches with her logo in mind. Granted, it was such an unlikely coincidence that Flora couldn''t blame CentralTank for not noticing before.

    In the course of the conversation, Flora deduced a few interesting things about Cetviwos. The AIs responsible for the population didn''t know that it was a game, but the gods knew, and Central Tank used the gods to influence the storyline.

    The earthlings had three points of contact in the history of the world. The first point in time was when the results of the alpha test got integrated into the Cetviwos as ''messages and gifts from the earthlings'' like the toaster spaceship and the tree. The next contact was the beta testers. Now, the players constituted the third wave.

    Finally, the delegation left, and Flora thanked Robby for his support.

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    "You are welcome, Ma, and thank you a lot for the opportunity," Robby said, but then grew serious. "We have to speak about you being Champion! This is a big deal!"

    (1: Copied from the legal babble of a design website: https://www.threadless.com/threadless/legal/ )

 23 Meeting Squad Four-One

    "You have to hide your class!" Robby commanded.

    "What''s wrong with being a champion of Evailyn, the glorious goddess of household appliances?" Flora had already imagined bragging about it to her friends, acquaintances, and random strangers at the bus station.

    "Nothing is wrong, Ma." Robby sighed. "There are five divine factions in the Cetviwos: White, Black, Cyan, Red, and Yellow. Every god or power belongs to a divine faction. Regular followers of the god only generate the normal amount of contribution, but champions produce a multitude of that. Therefore it''s a priority of the other factions to hinder the champions of their rivals. In short: you get chained ganked or spawn camped into rage quitting the game."

    "Please, translate the last sentence for newbies."

    "You get killed often enough that you don''t want to play anymore."

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    Robby fetched a legacy-pack out of the clan storage.

    "When you activate the class, nobody can see that you are a champion. You can switch anytime you are not in combat between active classes."

    Class: Analyst

    Branch: Crafting

    Passive:

    the S talent factor in the training efficiency modifier for perception, mana skills and abilities relying on perception

    Active:

    Bonus for all perception-based skills and abilities

    -------

    You gained the skill: ''Identify''.

    Identify: Describes the effects of an object.

    -------

    You gained the skill: ''Measure''.

    Measure: Gives you information about the size, weight, and speed of an object.

    -------

    You gained the skill: ''XYZ-Ray''.

    XYZ-Ray: Let you see through an object or parts of it.

    -------

    You gained the skill: ''Zoom''.

    Zoom: Zoom in visually.

    -------

    You gained the skill: ''Astral Vision''.

    Astral Vision: Reveals the mana flow.

    -------

    You gained the class ''Analyst''.

    Do you want to change your active class?

    -------

    Flora hesitated. ''Though all may be turned away from you, I will never be turned away. This is just a game. No need to overthink it. Before the hour of the cock''s cry, you will say three times that you have no knowledge of me.''

    "Not only will people seek to kill you, but there will also be gamers who seek your friendship because of the story quests of the champions. If you get one of those quests or need help, please come to me."

    "Alright, sweety. I can''t bring myself to change classes, yet. I feel like I am Peter and get asked if I know Jesus and deny it."

    Aidan laughed. "That''s alright, Ma. I want to rush because I want you to be safe. But what did you teach me?"

    "It''s better to be free than to be safe. And it''s better to be safe than sorry." Flora shrugged her shoulders. "I''m not sure how to apply the proverb in this situation. I should have taught you practical skills."

    Robby laughed again. "I saw that your silent casting is pretty smooth. It relieves me to see you are taking training seriously. Our gym currently gets used by squad four-one. They prepare to go to the Cradle at the end of the week. So, if you want to get to know them, the next few days are the best. Squad four-one has the same level as you. They will stay under level 25 until the Battle-Festival in four months."

    "Too much information!" Flora interrupted Robby. She lost track of what he was talking about at the beginning of the sentence and never caught up.

    "Never mind, I''ll introduce you to them." They left the spotless meeting room and walked to the gym hut.

    "By the way, do you need the Globe of Revelation? Can you lend it to me?"

    Flora recognized the way Robby asked for it. She patted the globe. ''I will probably never see you again.''

    The gym looked like a fitness studio in the real world: weightlifting machines, free weights, treadmills, spinning bikes, and rowing machines. Though, the laser turret and railgun in one corner of the studio were not part of the usual set up.

    A white, stocky, bald guy stood in front of the railgun and got shot in the stomach. Without even blinking, he jogged to a treadmill. Flora was happy that she wasn''t the only masochist in the Cetviwos.

    "Hey, guys! I want to introduce you to my mother. She started playing on Saturday and will be one of your future customers." Aidan said to the three people in the room, and they gathered around Robby. Besides the stocky guy, Gram, Flora shook hands with a mousy looking teenager in an oversized grey hoody, Mia, and a motherly, brown-haired woman, Shari. Gram and Shari retired from the army, and Mia was a star gamer on the kids-server and got recently old enough to join the regular game.

    Nickname: Gram OPhone

    Level: 1

    Class: Soldier

    Clan: Riverstones

    Active Title: The Robust

    Rating: A

    Nickname: Mia MyMio

    Level: 1

    Class: Driver

    Clan: Riverstones

    Active Title: The Robust

    Rating: A

    Nickname: Shari Sunpeace

    Level: 1

    Class: Soldier

    Clan: Riverstones

    Active Title: The Robust

    Rating: A

    "Don''t be alarmed by the guns, Mrs. Flow. They are just for reducing health for training vigor." Shari said, smiling.

    Flora nodded. "How do you use the guns?"

    "Just stand in front of them, activate the trigger, and get shot." Gram answered gruffly.

    "I mean, do you hold the vigor nearly constant on a certain percentage, if yes, how deep do you dare to go? If no, do you let it regenerate and then take it down, if yes, how far? I believe holding your health below 10% is the most effective training, but I can imagine that it is hard to dose the damage with guns this big."

    They stared at her.

    "Yes, it is hard to meter the right amount. I take my health down to 10 HP and use the laser turret when it regenerates to a maximum of 20 hp. The laserbeams do ten damage in the belly. But sometimes something crucial gets hit, and the damage goes up to 20 hp." Surprisingly, the shy girl Mia recovered first. "May I asked you a question, too?"

    "Of course, dear!"

    "Your mech-suit is a modified SmasherXXXRulz, right? That suit is, um, infamous in the mech community, because it is, um, not up to par."

    "Yes, I looked for the most crappy design. I use its unwieldiness to train, strength, agility, and even a bit dexterity. For vitality, I have used electroshocks, but now I added toxic materials to the suit. I can highly recommend them. With turning the friendly fire off and on, you can stay safely in the <10% HP zone."

    They starred at her again.

    "Boss, can you get me one of Auntie Flow''s mech-suit?" Mia once again recovered first.

    Flora explained the process and that toxic waste was sold out, but Robby ordered a team to fetch more of it and asked Flora to design Clan Riverstone jackets with 20 dmg/min and a mech-suit for Mia.

    "I want a suit, too!" Gram added, "I''m a tank, so I need the extra training."

    "Please don''t bash yourself. Your figure is totally normal. You are maybe a bit stocky but in no way built like a tank." Flora trilled.

    "Stocky? These are muscles!" He pointed at his belly.

    "Ma, the tank is one of the roles a player fulfills while playing in a group. They hold the aggression or aggro of the mobs. It has nothing to do with water or oil tanks."

    "Well, everybody has their own preferences." Flora made a mental note not to stand up anymore for other people like tanks or dummies! "What I don''t understand is why you train in the stuffy gym. Isn''t learning by doing better than these machines?"

    "We want to make a hero''s entrance," Shari said proudly. "You can enter the Cradle in two ways. One is the regular portal to the capital. The other way, you can only choose once. You get ported to a random location as the hero for the people. This quest is called ''the Hero''s Entrance'' and quite challenging. But with luck, you can get great rewards."

    "Of course, you can train at the scenarios, too. But that''s expensive. We only pay for the three most important." Robby added and sent Flora the names of the scenarios. Aidan''s list contained them all, but one of them Flora hadn''t included on her personal want-to-do-list. What fun can it be to play an Italian, overweight plumber?

    "The Hero''s Entrance is for gamers who want to challenge themself, not for people like you. You don''t have to overexert yourself." Robby said in a soothing cadence.

    "What exactly do you mean by ''people like me''?" Flora demanded to know.

    "Civilians. The Cetviwos offer beautiful sights, elaborate gardens, and art exhibitions for people of your age. Even if you want to have a bit of adventure, there are easy quests like collect some flowers and defend them against slugs or something. You can do endless amusing activities without being an elite fighter."

    On the one hand, Flora agreed with Robby. She had no agenda in the virtual reality, but the program she set for herself. Why shouldn''t she just enjoy herself? Build a few toasters, explore a bit, and take everything slowly.

    On the other hand, she was deeply offended. She wanted to slash her finger at Robby and lecture him on who he was talking down to. She was an engineer! She had heard her fair share of more or less well-meaning reasons why it wasn''t the best career choice for a woman.

    And when she strove to be one of the leading toaster experts in the world, there were a lot of people asking her why she worked so hard for such a flimsy goal, including herself.

    You never miss if you don''t aim.

    Robby said that she was a civilian. But was she really? Evai had foisted the champion class on her, but Flora realized that she always had been a champion of home appliances. The title might be new, but not the mission. Maybe she owned Evai to try for a hero entrance or perhaps in her mind, she already was a toaster hero, and anything less than a hero''s entry would be underachieving.

    "Ma? Ma! Are you listening?" Robby interrupted her train of thoughts.

    "Sure, sweety. What did you say?"

    "The clan has this rule, that we only take A-rated players. But that doesn''t mean fighters. Look at Lana; she got to A without fighting well. You don''t have to worry about it."

    Flora hadn''t bothered about it. In fact, it hadn''t even been on her radar! For a second, she started worrying, but then she remembered all the incompetent people in the world. It was practically impossible for her to be rated less than them, or at least, the System would have to pull out the strangest criteria.

    "If you would get rated B on Saturday, you still have a week leeway to turn it around. But with crafting rated A or S and with good stats, you get easily to an A Rating. When the contract goes through, you are rich as well, which is a criterium. Therefore you don''t have to rush into danger."

    "I hear you, son. I''ll think about it," Flora really wanted to reflect on it, but she knew herself well, especially the part that screamed: ''Those snotty-nosed brats have seen nothing! Hero entrance it is!''

    After wrapping up the conversation, Flora beamed to Tricky Beach and did the daily quest. Next, she attended martial art lessons and last, but not least, took a nap.

    Now, she was ready to tackle the Huffgrin collision-detection system again.

    Yesterday, she had an idea. The standard collision handling for the core-area around the deck was nearly perfect. If she could somehow simulate the crashes in this area and propagate the reaction to the model, all of her problems would be solved.

    The first and easiest step comprised building a miniature of the model. Flora hid it under the deck in the belly of the plane.

    The next step consisted of linking the states of the miniature to the original skin. It took Flora a while to figure it out.

    She tested the modification by poking a stick at the underbelly of the plane. Not only did that part of the big model deform, but the little model also crumbled. This caused the big model to distort.

    The last step was the most difficult. Flora had to think of a method to simulate the crash that happened to the skin to the miniature. The problem was that the system only reacted to ''real'' objects and not to other animations. Flora combed through the bulletin boards, guides, and the user manual until she found a hidden feature.

    Binding her advanced detection to the feature cost her much time and nerves. But finally, she got a working prototype.

    The skater approached the back of a mini-ramp. The forewarning system she built yesterday noticed the intrusion. With this data, Flora modeled the crash to the miniature. Then the connection between the miniature and skin propagated the changes to the big animation.

    Flora was too tired even to test it thoroughly and fell into her bed. ''Tomorrow, I will take a break''.

    After waking up, Flora cleaned up the two templates and tested the last one.

    You created an auxiliary template for the Cetviwos trick-interface.

    Name: "Advance warning collision handling."

    Type: interface template

    Effect: Allows detection of collisions up to 2m around the core-area and offers bindings to react to them.

    Rating: A

    Price: 8% royalty

    You created an auxiliary template for the Cetviwos trick-interface.

    Name: "Simulation PP collision handling."

    Type: interface template

    Effect: Perfect collision handling. The only prerequisite: enough space needed to hide the miniature.

    Rating: SSS

    Price: 15% royalty

    Afterward, she fine-tuned the burned toast skin, the meadow, and the Heinkel world war II bomber. Of course, she substituted the swastika on the bomber''s tail with her logo and included a feature that the buyer could upload his own picture instead. Additionally, she integrated the intensity meter on the propellers making them change their speed and glow with rising intensity.

    ''It would be a waste of a solid, but admittingly a bit boring design, if I wouldn''t adapt the Rainbow Intensity to a deck.''

    Therefore she added one stripe with this feature above and one below a black deck and called it finished.

    As soon as Aidan finished registering the skins, Flora sent the whole bundle to Ali Hawks.

    Meanwhile, Robby had messaged her that he collected 500 kg of toxic waste.

    Unfortunately, Flora had to fuse the materials manually because the system couldn''t or wouldn''t automate the fusion box.

    "Aidan, we need a robot arm for you to help out. Write it on the ToDo-List. Prio B-."

    Flora designed a simple biker jacket with the Clan Riverstone Logo on the back. Because of the materials, it looked disgustingly disco shiny cyan metallic.

    Name: "Riverstone Biker-Jacket"

    Type: Jacket

    Effect: Toxic-Aura: - 3 hp per minute, stacks 3 times, 1 meter radius.

    Effect: Radioactive-Aura: - 3 hp per minute, stacks 3 times, 1 meter radius.

    Rating: B

    Price: free

    After messaging the links to the designs to Robby and Lana and transferring the ownership of the 1500kg X34P2V1-TW to them, Flora took a deep breath.

    "There''s nothing in my immediate schedule, right, dear?"

    "Yes, Milady. Should we go over your ToDo-List?"

    "Hell no! I''m sorry for cussing, but no. I''m taking a bath. Refuse any calls and messages." Before she had finished the sentence, she was already in the jacuzzi and cranked the heat up to max.

    For the time being, Flora was satisfied with lying back and feeling the water flow around her. Now and then, she played with it using her hands and her magic. Flora created little geysers and maelstroms or pitted her strength against the jets. Sometimes, she added a round of mana cultivation and regular meditation.

    Snippets of the past days flitted through her mind. She didn''t mull over them, just mindfully revisited the scenes.

    When she felt calm and recharged, she opened her notifications and went over her stats.

    Now, she reached over 20 OV in all stats but magical perception, but even this attribute rose by 5 points. Magical Push and Refresh were the clear winners in the spell department, but Clean rose as well, which made Flora snicker.

 24 24. Grinding XP

    Flora arrived slightly cooked, medium raw, at Tricky Beach. ''I might have overdone the heat in the jacuzzi."

    After reaching a friendly reputation with the zone, Aidan could automatically connect to the local network. Now, Flora didn''t need to visit the earthling information center to acquire and hand in the daily quest.

    Quest: Grinding XP

    Description: Grind or slide the rails, ropes, and edges of Tricky City. Bonus: Grind the XP Rails.

    Rewards: Reputation with Tricky City.

    Penalty: None.

    In one of the back roads, she found a low, several meters long rail. After accelerating, she jumped on it and activated Slide. First, she needed to use her arms for balance, but after a few meters, she found the sweet spot and gracefully finished the rail.

    ''Again!''

    Her balancing improved.

    ''Again!''

    This time she jumped off the rail.

    ''Again!''

    In the middle of the rail, she switched the leading foot from left to right with a little hop. Unfortunately, she couldn''t equilibrate and had to leave the bar.

    ''Once more with feeling!''

    Now, she finished even with changing the foot.

    While her mana regenerated, she looked for a different rail. A few meters down the road was an empty fountain with an elevated border. Grinding in circles proved to be a challenge, but after a few tries, Flora mastered it. Which was a miracle, because mentally, she was busy trying to remember her physics lectures if there was a formula to calculate the optimal lean.

    ''The wonder of the human mind! The intuition knows what the ratio can''t calculate!''

    While sliding around the fountain, Flora played with the lean and the positioning of her feet. Chugging mana potions like Freibier and holding Refresh on cooldown, she completed round after round. Eventually, she ground the edge backward.

    ''It would be amazing to perform a macaco as finishing-move.''

    She concentrated and bent her knees.

    ''Now! Okay, not now.''

    A few meters later: ''Now!''

    A few meters later: ''Anytime, now!''

    A few meters later: ''After I pass the little dancing waterspout!''

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    As the waterspout passed by: ''Now!''

    She couldn''t commit to it, and the spell fizzled out.

    After taking a deep breath, drinking a potion, and revolving her mana, she activated the automatic-mode for free-running.

    Next, she gathered speed, jumped on the edge, and activated Slide.

    "Auto-mode, make me slide backward!" Her feet changed position without her doing.

    "Disturbing, but I take it! And now, auto-mode, macaco off the fountain!" Her right hand reached down, and her legs kicked above her head. She even landed smoothly.

    The next attempt consisted of her giving mental commands to the auto-mode. After that, she tried it without giving instructions, just by initiating the movement, which resulted in a back handspring. That trick was more advanced than a macaco but not what she wanted to accomplish. For ending the test series with success, she repeated the trial with mental commands.

    Then, she changed to half-auto-mode. The fear still hampered the execution of the moves, but after experiencing it a few times in auto-mode, the voice in her head that had screamed ''Impossible! You''ll break every bone!'' softened.

    Flora put her hand back and kicked. Immediately, she knew that she had the wrong angle, but without her influence, her body corrected itself in the air. Shakingly, she landed on the ground. ''Again!''

    The next try, she performed better, the following worse. But it didn''t matter how crooked she executed the moves. The important thing was learning that no hospital stay was the consequence.

    Congratulations! Your rating in Free-Running rose to ''C''!

    Flora took the message as a hint to change to manual mode. On the first few passes, she felt no difference until she messed up the switch from forward-grind to backslide because her thoughts were already at the macaco. She tumbled into the fountain and hit her head on a grinning, roller-skating gargoyle.

    You are defeated!

    Immediately after getting teleported to the losers'' corner, she did a macaco and added a backflip for good measure. That earned her a rebuke from the stall-owner. "No tricking in the corner, Lady!"

    "Sure, sir." After scanning the menu for the most fitting snag, she decided."One ''Losers break fast'', please."

    Beans, bacon, baked eggs, bread, and sausages filled the plate. Flora called it the ''4BS of the commonwealth''. Even the bun was as commonwealth as it gets: It was so soft that you couldn''t hurt a dandelion with it.

    Fortunately, Flora packed her ''Welcome to the Metaworld'' toaster. Its form was unadorned. Flora had painted the sides blue with dissolving stat-tables and the confusing currencies flowing against each other.

    After toasting the floppiness out of it, she enjoyed her breakfast.

    "Look! That granny wears the same gay skin like you!"

    "Shut up! She can hear you!"

    Flora turned to the table with the gang of young boys and girls and flashed them a thumbs up.

    "Even better: I designed the skin! Just treat it like the socks your granny never knitted for you."

    A few of the children laughed, but the guy, a blondie with a pony-tail, Morty Moerder, looked insecure, and his green-haired freckled buddy beside him, PsySam DaPest spotted a mean smirk.

    "So tell us, how far can you get your own skin up the rainbow." PsySam challenged her.

    "Want to bet?" Flora countered with a smirk of her own.

    Betting and gambling with minors are forbidden.

    "Sure!"

    "I don''t bet with ankle-biters. I show you for free that I''m perfectly capable of exploiting my creations to the max."

    ''But I bet with you, dear System. Are you up to it?''

    Quest: Tricking the Rainbow

    Description: Reach red on the Rainbow Intensity Meter in front of the teenagers on the first try.

    Reward: + 1 Free-Running

    Penalty: - 1 Modeling and Design

    ''Fair enough.'' Flora accepted.

    The ''Cornered''-debuff already had disappeared, so Flora crossed the orange, transparent barrier, but stayed in sight of the teenies.

    Then, she formed in quick succession rolls, alternating regular and backward rolls. Of course, she restricted the mechanism of the skin to raise intensity if someone just did one maneuver to excess. But rotating two tricks worked fine. ''You should let people have some fun finding exploits.''

    The skin continuously changed its colors from violet to blue and from blue to cyan. Flora felt dizzy, and her stamina was rapidly sinking. Between rolls, she cast a quick Refresh. ''Halfway, done. Just a few more.''

    Green!

    Yellow!

    "Go, Granny!" The teenies hollered.

    Orange! Flora didn''t know where up and down was anymore.

    Red! Finally! For the grand finish, Flora did a backflip instead of a roll.

    Breathing heavily, she bowed to the clapping crowd.

    "The grannies nowadays aren''t what they were," PsySam shook his head, but his friends celebrated Flora''s performance.

    "Yes, in my time, they wouldn''t be free-running! Though my grandmothers wouldn''t be caught dead knitting or baking. My whole family is a bit eccentric, as you might have guessed."

    Depressingly, the teenagers nodded in unison. ''And I''m not even wearing the potion guzzler!''

    "That was so groovy, Mrs. Flowers!" A girl with a chessboard tattoo covering her face exclaimed, and a few more teenagers chimed in.

    "Thank you, dears. You can call me, Auntie Flow or Granny Flow."

    Morty was excited, too, and Flora recognized that he was eager to give it a try.

    "Come on, Morty. You can do it! I will cast Refresh on you." Flora encouraged him.

    He nodded rapidly and started rolling.

    "Kill it, Morty!"

    "Rollin'' Rollin'' Rollin''!" the girl, Anny Dunediver, screamed.

    "Rollin'' Rollin'' Rollin''?" PsySam aked.

    Blue!

    "Rollin'' Rollin'' Rollin''!" The teenagers sang. To her astonishment, Flora knew the song from Blues Brothers.

    "Rawhide!" Flora joined the choir.

    Green!

    "Move ''em on (head ''em up) Head ''em up (move ''em up) Move ''em on (head ''em up)! Rawhide!"

    Yellow!

    "Grind ''em out, flip ''em in, flip ''em in, grind ''em out, grind ''em out, flip ''em in, Rawhide!"

    Orange!

    "Keep movin'' movin'' movin''! Though they''re disapprovin''! Keep them doggies moving, Rawhide!"

    Red!

    The crowd cheered, and Flora cheered with them.

    The boy was breathing even harder than Flora, shakingly stood up with a red face and waved to the onlookers.

    The teenagers had the same daily. Therefore they ran together to the XP-Rails. Flora felt like she was a ladybug surrounded by grasshoppers on sugar-rush. The youthful energy was intense!

    On arrival, Flora had a good overview of the business below. The XP-Rails consisted of three rails in the middle of a 50-meter wide pit.

    ''A lava pit! Why is there a lava pit in a beach town!''

    The first rail built the left-bottom to right-top stroke of the letter X. Near the end, the bar curled upwards. Flora watched gaping a skater doing a Japan Air to transfer to the second rail. The second one formed the left-top to bottom-right stroke of the letter X and passed under the first.

    ''At least you can''t collide!''

    At the base, the track curved into the upward stroke of the P. From there, you had to jump to the rail forming the belly of the letter P. Which ended in a swirl near the ground. There, only a narrow trail of earth parted the bubbling lava and led to the exit.

    "Oh, dear!"

    PsySam laughed and jumped on the first rail. "Here goes nothing!"

    "Kamikaze!" Anny followed.

    "For glory and chicks!"

    "Do you want to live forever?"

    "Rainbow-Power!" That was Moerder.

    "Mother Mary!" Flora screamed and jumped. ''When in Rome ...''

    While grinding on a thin rail only a few meters above a fiery hell, Flora philosophized about the nature of fear.

    Her normal anxiety while free-running was a learned fear. Years of being careful not to hurt herself were deeply ingrained. The terror she was now experiencing was different. It was a primal fear of heights and fire.

    Nobody ever told her to be careful while grinding over a lava pit, not even herself. The terror was fresh and exhilarating. Adrenalin pumped through her veins and simultaneously anchored her in the presents and detached her from it.

    At the end of the rail, she got catapulted into the air. Vectors appeared in her mind''s eye, calculating acceleration, spin, and gravity and connecting her flight path with the second rail. Tranquil, she adjusted her body and perfectly hit the waiting bar, dashing on.

    All thoughts vanished, and only the wind in her face and the track in front of her existed. Smooth and calm, she took the curve from the bottom of the X to the P and sped on. She did no tricks, she just slid on the rail with knees slightly bent, and arms spread.

    In precisely the right moment, she transferred from the upper edge of the P to its belly with a piked backflip. The last stretch of the rail passed like a dream, and suddenly she stood on flat earth surrounded by lava.

    She took a few steps forward, still not comprehending that the ride finished. Then it came to her.

    ''I ground XP! I completed it!'' She laughed. But soon, the adrenalin vanished, and she started to tremble.

    Notifications flashed before her eyes, but she couldn''t read them. Tremors shook her body to such an extent that she had to sit down.

    With her feet dangling above the lava, she concentrated on her breathing. Her heart was beating irregularly.

    ''Am I getting a heart attack? Log out!''

    Everything grew black, and first, she thought that she was fainting, but then she heard a click, and the lid of the pod opened.

    "An assistant will arrive shortly to help you leave the pod." an automated voice message droned.

    ''I''m back in the real world!'' She still felt her heart beating, but the rhythm was more steady than before. While listening to her body, old pains and arches came back like annoying relatives. You didn''t miss them for sure, but they gave you a familiar feeling.

    "Hello, Mrs. Fluss. I''m Lisa. Did you enjoy your stay in the Cetviwos?" a chirpy voice asked her. A hand came into her field of vision and retracted the mouthpiece.

    "I did," Flora answered with a raspy voice. She realized that it wasn''t only a polite statement. She really did enjoy herself immensely. "Do you have a cafeteria? I want to drink a nice cup of tea."

    Soon, Lisa had Flora out of the pod and into a bathrobe. Flora didn''t feel as horrible as she expected. Sure, some joints were a bit stiff, but not to the degree you would imagine after lying down for several days.

    After showering and cleaning, she recovered her good spirits. She had missed brushing her teeth! And taking a dump!

    The cafeteria was nearly empty, and Flora savored the view on the smoking chimneys and industrial lights in the twilight and the hot tea.

    A part of her couldn''t wait to go back into the virtual world, and a part of her dreaded it. She laughed at herself. ''No need to overthink it! I have a quest to hand in!''

 25 25. Martial Arts Mannequin-Routines

    Back in the virtual world, Flora repaired her melted boots and handed in the daily-quest. She got for the first time an A rating!

    Still, she couldn''t quite believe that she managed to complete the XP-grind and doubted that she could repeat the performance short-term.

    Next, Flora ported to the Seven Masters Dojo and attended her lessons. Her increased stats drew attention. Tempering and physical defense caused her to take less damage and strength to hit harder than the other level 1 pupils. The coaches paired her with now with level 10 participants.

    But her technique was still not up to par. She needed longer than the young people to implement the instructions of the trainers. Furthermore, she didn''t want to hurt her training partners and pulled her punches.

    It wasn''t a conscious decision, just habit. When she saw a smiling face, she used to smile back and not to hit it right in the middle.

    "Punch me, like I popped the cherry of your fifteen-year-old granddaughter!" Her partner, Ghoris Jalati, a brown-haired Georgian male, demanded grinning.

    Flora estimated that he was easily in his thirties, which added a decent oompf to her punch.

    "Ow! Woman! That''s how you do it!" He mumbled with a dislocated jaw. Then he grabbed his chin and put it back in place. Flora''s stomach turned just from hearing the noise. ''What a brute!''

    But his tactic was successful. It proved to Flora that he could take everything that she was able to dish out. Therefore she felt free to loosen up.

    Question time reserved the last five minutes of each lesson. You could skip it and run to your next course, which Flora had done in the past. But today she had nothing planned for the evening and decided to stay.

    First, the teacher reminded everyone that there was only one lesson left until the course examination.

    Flora had no confidence at all. Although she knew that her attitude was the main problem, she had issues with adjusting it.

    ''Maybe I feel too safe?''

    Germany was a secure country, and Flora experienced no physical violence after elementary school.

    "Get some fighting experience, folks! Sign up for Ring-Time."

    Fortunately, she wasn''t the only newbie, and someone asked about it.

    "That''s the PvP feature of the Seven Masters Dojo. Go to the Ring room, adjust your settings for Wing Tsun or MMA fights, and sign up. You will get paired with someone of a similar 7MD course level and fight. Best 2 of 3 wins."

    "If you have issues with the forms, visit the Wing Chun temple. You can find Mannequin-Routines there. Unfortunately, the temple has only Ma-Routes for the Ip Man Wing Chun lineage. Wing Tsun is part of that lineage. Therefore the first two forms are identical." One of the coaches, an athletic brown-haired woman, added.

    The forms consisted of Thai Chi like movements and were the equivalent to a kata in karate.

    Flora to Aidan: "Great! The Ring-Thing and the Mannequin-Thing have the potential to solve both of my problems! Let''s try them out. I hope you caught the correct appellation, dear."

    First, she navigated with Aidan''s help to the Wing Chun temple in the northern part of the compound.

    The temple was part of a whole village consisting of red houses with curved roofs and courtyards.

    The first room reminded Flora of a museum. Black and white photographs hang on the walls, and objects in display cabinets stood on podia. The smell of wood from the creaking floor permeated the air.

    After tiptoeing through the room, Flora entered the courtyard. A pond with several statues of cranes and snakes decorated it.

    A few people came from the side houses and entered the main house on the northern edge of the yard. Flora followed them.

    A strange scene welcomed her upon entering.

    The room had dozens of statues in martial arts poses. People surrounded them and touched them. Nobody spoke or moved. They all starred with glassy eyes on the figures.

    ''This is the strangest cult ever!'' Flora''s eyes darted between the statues and the open door, her emergency exit.

    Suddenly one person moved. Flora thought she looked vaguely familiar, maybe from one of the lessons she had taken. The black-haired woman took her hands off the shoulder of the statue of a guy in horse stance. Then she looked at Flora, nodded, touched the shoulder again, and went back to starring into nothingness.

    "Aidan, what are they doing?"

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    "These are Mannequin-Routines, Milady. They work like experios and transport the user in a separate dimension where they can experience the movements of the martial arts routine."

    "So it''s not an esoteric ritual to pray for enlightenment in martial arts." Flora was a bit disappointed but more inclined to try it. She chose the same statue as the woman and touched its forearm.

    Ð¡Äîî^ (Xi¨£o ni¨¤ntou) - Mannequin Routine

    To experience the Routine, please pay one Credit.

    After the now familiar feeling of getting hurled through dimensions by your navel, Flora found herself in a meadow on a mountain. She wanted to look around, but couldn''t move.

    Suddenly, her hands started to move on their own. After a short bout of panic, Flora realized that she did the first Wing Chun form, Siu Lim Tao.

    The Beginner-1 Course only covered the first section of it, but now Flora experienced the complete form.

    ''Again!''

    At the next pass, she got over her discomfort quicker and started to feel the moves.

    ''Again!'' ''Again!'' ''Again!'' ''Again!''

    Gradually she began to comprehend the form and move mentally in sync with the mysterious person whose body she was sharing.

    Eventually, she took a break and tried to perform the form on her own. She judged that she got the first section of the form right, but with pauses. Consequently, she returned to the statue for a few more rounds.

    After she could perform the first section fluently, she moved on to the next statue.

    ü[ÊÖ(ch¨© sh¨¯u) - Mannequin-Routine

    To experience the Routine, please pay one Credit.

    A second person appeared in front of her, a Chinese guy. Flora''s body put its wrists against the wrists of the other guy. They took turns in defending and attacking while never losing contact with the forearms of their partner.

    The drill was called Chi Sau, sticky hands, but Flora called it wrist massage. It was used to train energy exchange and continuous movement.

    In the lessons, they only performed it with one hand, but using both felt more natural to Flora at first. Then the exercise progressed to a level Flora couldn''t comprehend. Therefore she repeated just the first few minutes several times.

    Of course, Flora tried all statues at least once, but the rest reached from above her level over ''Why do I have swords in my hands and what am I doing with them?'' to ''What just happened?''.

    Finally, Flora went back to the first two statues to clear her mind from confusion.

    A time check revealed that she missed the next start of Jiu-Jitsu, but she didn''t mind. She wanted to check out the Ring-Time first.

    The hall was on the ground floor of the building and contained a training section, a cafeteria and a lounge area where many pupils in the Seven Master Dojo uniform trained, ate, or chatted.

    Aidan directed her to one of the small projections of a boxing ring strewn across the hall. Upon touching it, a popup appeared where she could put in her preferences.

    Flora selected opponents for Wing Chun, level 1-25, 7MD Beginner-0 - 2. Boxes like ''same sex'' or ''same geographical earth region'' she left unchecked.

    Immediately, she teleported into a boxing ring.

    Red numbers counted down from 5 to Go! Before she even got a good look at her opponent, he was upon her. She only saw a fist approaching her face, and reflexively closed her eyes and protected her head with her arms. The rest of the punches, she felt raining on her upper body.

    You were defeated!

    Directly, the countdown started again. Her opponent was a male youth with a buzz cut. He grinned aggressively at her.

    ''If I breathe in, you hang vertically under my nose, sapling!'' Flora smirked back.

    This time she managed to block the first few of his chain punches but didn''t even attempt an offensive. Somehow he got a punch past her defenses. This caused Flora to lose the rhythm, and she got defeated again. The match ended 0:2.

    ''Again!''

    That match ended 0:2 as well.

    "I can''t be that terrible in martial arts, right, Aidan?"

    "Of course, not Milady! Your first opponent had two yellow belts in a Japanese martial art, and your second opponent had even one blue belt in Taek-Won-Do and four additional white belts."

    On Aidan''s advice, she set the maximum amount of 7MD belts to two white belts. Flora had noticed that the other pupils had colorful buttons stuck on their sashes, but she had mistaken it for a fashion statement.

    The lines on those represented the belts. Beginner-1 had one white stripe crossing the button and Beginner-5 five white lines. The color of the button showed under which master''s department the martial art was sorted.

    It made absolute sense to restrict the number of belts. Flora didn''t want to face again somebody who had seven belts in karate and just started Wing Tsun.

    Flora lost the next few fights again. But now she felt she had a chance. With every battle, she improved a bit. She decided to continue Ring-Time until she had her first victory.

    "We will record this challenge for further analysis."

    The following fight, she technically won, but only because her opponent gave up. Although he looked like a thug, was covered with tattoos, a Mexican-flag on his chest, and tears on his face, he was quite polite. After looking at Flora and he said before quitting: "Sorry, ma''am. I''m not fighting grannies."

    ''Again! That doesn''t count.''

    Now, she got a spindly thin young man with spiky cyan hair. During the countdown, he windmilled his arms, got into horse stance, and yelled ''Over 9000!''.

    Screaming several octaves higher than someone with testicles should be capable of, he charged her with his hands formed into swans.

    ''Is he attempting to simulate mantis claws?''

    Flora was puzzled, but that didn''t prevent her from kicking him straight in the nuts. And she probably wasn''t the first one who had hit him there according to his voice. She followed up with chain punches and won.

    The second round was nearly identical to the first.

    "That doesn''t count either. He was mentally challenged."

    She lost the next two fights at a hair''s breadth.

    "This is the one, Aidan! I can feel it!"

    The countdown started, and Flora spotted Atteroevra Horisonten, the nice Swedish girl, she had partnered up in Jiu-Jitsu.

    Flora waved at her but reminded herself to stay focused.

    After bowing, they inched carefully closer to each other. Flora had her left arm leading and the right following. That was the standard WT hand position. Shortly before Atterowevra reached kicking range, she lunged at Flora.

    ''She is trying a takedown!''

    A front kick pushed her back, but Atterowevra caught Flora''s trousers and pulled.

    Half stumbling and half jumping, Flora moved forwards and kneed her with the other leg. Additionally, she had aimed her fist at her opponent''s face but missed. Both tumbled to the floor and fell in the familiar Jiu-Jitsu routine of snuggling aggressively.

    ''No! It''s a Wing Tsu match!''

    After Atterowevra managed to roll behind her, Flora''s neck was in danger. Therefore she used one hand to fend off the choke and the other to hit over her shoulder. This caused Atterowevra to jerk. Immediately, Flora used the opportunity to elbow the girl''s stomach and swing her leg around to mount. From this position, she rained blows on Atterowevra.

    The round finished. In the second round, Atterowevra tried again to take Flora down. This time Flora was mentally prepared and defended against it. The girl had no stand-up game, so Flora wore her gradually down with kicks and punches.

    "Although it was strange, I''ll count it as a legit win."

    After scanning the room, Flora found Atterowevra.

    "I didn''t know that you took Wing Chun as well!" Flora said to her after the greeting.

    "I don''t. A friend recommended it to train Jiu-Jitsu against strikers. In most of the other striking martial arts, the system doesn''t count Jiu-Jitsu maneuvers as damage. Wing Chun has nearly no rules, so everything goes."

    Flora was enlightened! They chatted amiably on the way to the Jiu-Jitsu course and trained together.

    Again, Teacher Clowdy lead the training. ''That woman must work 24/7!''

    When Flora got back home, it was too late to start a new crafting project but too early to go to sleep.

    She snuggled into her bed in the workshop and activated the video platform.

    First, Flora started to watch her videos of the fights.

    "What were you thinking!"

    "Don''t you see that his whole upper body is unprotected!"

    "Move!"

    "Punch!"

    "Aidan! This is horrible!" Flora exclaimed after getting fed up with screaming at her recorded self. "Show me videos of fighters who know what they are doing!"

    Aidan not only displayed videos, but also introduced her to experios. They were like the mannequin-routines, but everybody could upload them. Therefore the quality was all over the place.

    Of course, Flora didn''t want to experience fights of people with worse technique and fighting instincts than her. But if the recorder was too advanced, she couldn''t understand the movements and felt like a marionette with an insane operator.

    Finally, they found a woman with decent but slow Wing Tsun who had uploaded some of her fights. Flora wasn''t sure if she learned something useful, but was intrigued by the possibilities of experios.

    After Wing Chun, she tried experios about a guy smelting copper, free-running flipping, spearfishing, American football, break dancing, and aimed for ''Analyzing my mana channels'' and hit ''Anal YZ DP''. After that, she made a wide arc around the experios marked as ''adult content''.

    She ended her day with a regular video about cute pets in the Cetviwos.

    ''Maybe I look at pets tomorrow?''

 26 26. The Garage

    "Good morning, Aidan! What are we doing today?"

    Flora walked with a spring in her step to her mailbox.

    She found an enthusiastic thank-you-letter from Ali Hawks.

    Of course, he asked if she could lower the royalties for the SPP collision handling. She agreed to go from 15% to 13% for 2 000 000 Credits and signed the attached contract.

    ''Those CentralTank lawyers could cut a slice off Ali''s toast.''

    "Good morning, Milady! May I remind you of acquiring the pupil class or the bullet-points on your ToDo-list?"

    "I already have a class. Technically two. I don''t want to leave Evailyn."

    "You don''t have to change your class. You can connect the pupil badge with the champion badge."

    "What? How? I believe we have to visit the Cetviwos Academy, anyhow. I''m still totally in the dark. Please remind me, what is missing for the quest to acquire ''Pupil''."

    "Completing two more courses or workshops. Jiu-Jitsu or Wing Tsun would count as one of them."

    Flora thought about the right sequence of action.

    "Maybe we can combine the last course with something on my ToDo-List?"

    A Shopping- and Wishlist for the meeting with the lawyers

    B Experios: experiencing activities from the perspective of experts.

    B Research the standard HUD settings.

    B The advantage of having a pet and figure out if you can have machines like toasters as pets.

    B Research beginner tips, especially recommendation on what you should do shortly after you enter the Metaworld and before you enter the Cradle

    B- We need a robot arm for Aidan to help out

    C Find a way to hurt Flora

    C Find a way to train while doing other stuff

    C Build a generator

    C Test if it is really impossible to modify items from the shop

    D Bully Robby into letting Flora have a spin in a toaster.

    D Figure out a way to do magic in the training-coffin

    E The price of stamina potions

    "I see the potential for workshops in handling pets, robotics, something helping me with building the generator and a flight course for spaceships. I know a bit about robotics because of the development of household appliances in the last 30 years. But I still don''t get how they mesh electronics and magic, although I''m fascinated by it. So, please prioritize this in your search for a suitable course."

    "I found a promising workshop, Milady! ''Electronics in Cetviwos for Earthling professionals''! You fulfill the requirement of having an A rating in electronics."

    "Good job!"

    "There are additional advantages. The Garage organizes the workshop. That''s one of the most important factions for crafters in the sector mechanics and electronics. You can acquire valuable blueprints if you have enough reputation with them. And it is the second easiest way to get a pass for the ''Doom Moon''-Scenario."

    "Great!" The name of the scenario was vaguely familiar. "Remind me why I wanted to do this scenario."

    "It is possible to salvage tier 1 materials in it, especially robot parts."

    Next, Flora and Aidan scheduled the tasks for the day.

    Flora rolled her eyes, seeing that they planed every free minute until 22:00. Thankfully one of the activities was taking a nap.

    First, she beamed to the clan Riverstones HQ to print three more treasure chest 3x3x3m containers. Flora attended enough fairs to know that the second worst thing was, not to have enough room to stash all the freebies. The worst thing that could happen was not to get any offered.

    From there, she ported to Jiu-Jitsu.

    ''Clowdy is still teaching the lesson! It''s 8 a.m.! That girl needs a private life!''

    After Jiu-Jitsu, Flora beamed to Trick Beach and completed the daily ''The trick is to clean the air'' by exercising her front flips.

    Finally, she arrived at the Garage. The compound was a mixture between a junkyard and an airfield. Walking between rusty spaceships, vehicles, and robots, she reached the first hangar.

    In front of a welded sign ''Tool-Loan'', she found the pedestal to check-in.

    Daily Quest: Repetition is the mother of learning

    Description: Manafacture 25 times the same part.

    Rewards: Reputation with the Garage

    Penalties: None

    Rating: E

    Weekly Quest: Robo Melee

    Description: Build a robot to fight in the battle royal on Saturday Two.

    Rewards: Reputation with the Garage and prizes for placement.

    Penalties: None

    Rating: E

    "Robot Wars! I have always wanted to partake or even watch! Aidan, you have to remind me on Saturday Two!"

    Immediately, Flora browsed the rules and especially the built rules. The Garage even provided materials!

    "Aidan, you have to control my robot. Are you up to the task?"

    "Of course, Milady. But it would be wise to train beforehand to get my vehicle control skill and aim up."

    "Sure." Flora''s thoughts flown already back to what kind of robot she wanted to build.

    "Milady, the workshop is going to start in five minutes."

    "Ow, burned toast and stale jam!" The thought to throw today''s plan out of the window flitted through Flora''s mind, but years of discipline kicked in. "Lead the way!"

    Flora vaulted over cars and slid under and on spare parts until she reached the school hangar. ''Good choice to learn free running. It''s surely handy.''

    The workshop was in a hall with workbenches on the walls. Flora chose a free one and got seated. Around a dozen other people had done the same as Flora. They were mostly American and Asian men. Fewer Europeans and Middle-Easterns because it was 5 o''clock in real life and men because it was electronics. In the last 50 years, more women had joined electrical engineering, but the amount still paled compared to males. When you added the mostly male technicians, the gender disparity got even more skewed.

    Flora had studied engineering for automation technology and industrial design. Both had more women, especially the last.

    During the workshop, she got often reminded of her studies, especially all the things she had forgotten since then.

    The level of the lesson was definitely more like AC than DC and a good amount of MC, magical current. It alternated between kindergarten and ''I used this everyday'' ''I should know this.'', ''I definitely knew that once.'', ''I never heard of it.'', ''This makes no sense.'' and ''I''m pretty sure, that''s impossible, even with magic.''

    Everyone did the practical part of the workshop in their own time, with the instructor making his rounds to help out. That meant Flora did 25 times the exercise while the others did it once or twice. ''Free materials and a nice quest. I would be stupid not to use the time.''

    Of course, she didn''t notice that the other students started to sweat just from looking at the speed of the telekinetically flying components.

    At the end of the workshop, Flora was, at the same time, more confused and more enlightened. At least she now knew more ways to power a toaster than including a socket for nock connection.

    The most common way to power handheld tools were mana-plates. You dumped some mana into a disk, and transformers converted it to electricity. The mana dissipated fast. You had to reload them around every 10 minutes, depending on the quality of the plate.

    Back at home, Flora was thankful that she had scheduled a nap. Too much new information taxed her brain. Immediately after entering her bed, she fell asleep.

    "Milady, it is time for the scenario."

    "Five more minutes!"

    "Milady, it is about time for the scenario."

    "Five more minutes!"

    "Milady, if you don''t start the scenario in the next one minute and twentyone seconds, you will be late for Wing Tsun."

    "Alright, start the scenario, dear."

    Scenario: Groom the Doom Moon

    Description: The Doom Moon, the most significant technological enterprise of humankind, needs capable technicians to keep it running. But will the terrorists interfere?

    Type: Crafting / Survival

    Duration: max. 5h, average 4,6h

    Requirements:

    - Mechanics, Electronics or Smithing > 15 OV

    - referral from the Garage or the Magetech Institute

    Restrictions: Only some of your mana-skills will work. Click to show.

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    Level-Cap: 25

    Rating: A

    Price: 10 VirDias

    Flora''s vision turned grey, and a resonant voice read the appearing text:

    "Your colleague and friend Jake invited you to dinner together with his wife Elena and daughter Hope, to convince you of joining him on montage on the Doom Moon."

    Quest: Enlist as a technician on the Doom Moon

    Rewards: none

    Penalty: Scenario stops

    Difficulty: E

    Then she found herself sitting on a dining table with two adults and a toddler still clutching her duvet.

    "Open the hangars. Here, the H-Fighter comes!" Jake coaxed his daughter to accept the spoon with mash.

    Quickly, Flora put her blanket away and checked her clothing. She was still wearing the pink leisure suit, in which she went to bed and felt underdressed. Thankfully, the couple was dressed casually as well. Jake wore a lumberjack shirt and spotted a blond bird nest instead of a hairstyle while Elena donned a sommer dress and had her dark brown hair in a ponytail.

    "The pay is excellent, the forepeople are okay, and we can work on the hugest project ever! Alright, the higher-ups are a bit on the stiff side, but I practically never encountered them." Jake showed off his dimples as he grinned at her.

    "You forgot to mention the terrorists! I am frightened by them. They proclaimed that they want to destroy the moon before it is finished."

    "Dogs who bark, don''t bite, love. This will be my last tour. You''ll see, I will be back before you know it."

    ''That idiot jinxed it! Never say, it''s your last tour!''

    Flora felt uncomfortable in the middle of this lovely family. She felt manipulated to like them by the game and hated that it was working. Dimples, who could resist dimples?

    "I agree. I want to work on the Doom Moon." Flora tried to cut the conversation short. She fought to withstand the big blue eyes of the adorable toddler without breaking out in cooing.

    Fortunately, her vision turned gray again, and the story-teller read some more text: "A few weeks later, you travel to the Doom Moon in the company of Jake."

    Now, Flora found herself at an airport. She watched the grown Hope standing on wobbling legs until Jake finished kissing his wife.

    "Daddy will be back soon! Take good care of your mommy while I''m away, honey."

    The toddler nodded with adorable seriousness and got another hug an kiss from her father.

    Flora and Jake waved one last time before entering the gangway.

    After entering the shuttle, she sat on a window with Jake next to her.

    Instead of rolling across the field, the shuttle catapulted into the air, pressing Flora in her seat.

    First, Flora watched the airport getting smaller, then the land. Next, they broke through the clouds, and she could see the curve of the earth. Finally, the familiar blue globe was getting smaller, as well.

    Fascinated, she stared at the distant planets and stars.

    "Prepare for the jump into the hyperspace!" The captain''s voice announced.

    The stars transformed into streaks of lights, and they entered a glowing tunnel. Then they pulled out of it, and Flora got the first view of the Doom Moon. It looked like a grey ball with concave dents in it.

    Flora had seen this shape before on television.

    ''Heaven help us! I signed up as a technician on the death star!''

 27 27. Doom Moon - Part 1

    Flora watched the humongous metal moon like it would explode any second.

    "Isn''t it great? We will show the terrorists not to mess with us!" Jake glowed with pride.

    Frantically, Flora tried to remember the Star Wars movies but then gave up. In too many of them were death stars, and none of them survived the whole trilogy.

    "Aidan, we are going to look for escape routes. Map every path and learn the fastest way to space ship hangars. Hopefully, they provide escape pods."

    The scene shifted again. A cute blue bipedal elephant stood before Flora.

    "I''m the forewoman of your shift, Elma Phen. Touch this crystal, dear."

    Elma carried a clipboard, and Flora stared at it. When you are on a doomed star in the middle of space, and an elephant is talking to you, your brain latches on the things you can understand. Flora understood clipboards very well.

    "Hey! Doom Moon to Flowing Flowers! Touch that crystal, granny."

    "Sure, sure." Flora got a grip on herself.

    Permission to transmit following stats to Elma Phen:

    Magical regeneration: 25 OV

    Mechanics: 19 OV

    Electronics: 12 OV

    Smithing: 0 OV

    ''Granted.''

    "Nice reg. Have you worked on turrets before?"

    "No."

    "Now, you will."

    Elma pressed four jacks and a package into Flora''s hand.

    Quest completed: Enlist as a technician on the Doom Moon

    Difficulty: E

    Rating: D

    Then the scene changed again.

    Next, Flora stood in front of three robots. One looked like the child of a fire hydrant and R2D2, one like the chimera of a spider and Thing T. Thing from Adams family and the last one like a fork lifter transformer.

    "Um, hi?"

    The hydrant chirped, the spider snapped its fingers, and the transformer buzzed.

    "Milady, you have to insert the jacks into your nocks first."

    "Every decade they get crazier with edits in movies. You think switching from scene to scene every minute is confusing, think again! In five years, they will make scenarios with only a few seconds between each switch!" Flora sighed and smiled. She had needed that rant!

    After inserting the nocks, she opened the package. It contained what she identified as a greenish uniform, a goldfish bowl, a portable gaming system, and a tool that looked like it belonged to a dentist specializing in the care of whales.

    First, she equipped the uniform. The belt spotted besides an indention the size of the console, a clasp for the tool. So she put them there.

    "Where do I get a goldfish for the bowl?"

    "It''s a space helmet, Milady."

    "Nevermind." She put it into her inventory.

    "Let''s try this again. Hello, I''m Flowing Flowers. You may call me Auntie Flow or Milady. I got fond of the last address, and I believe I have to use the time you robots are still nice to get some respect from you before you will become the tyrannical machine overlords and enslave humankind."

    "Hello, Auntie Flow! I''m R2R7UT, an astromech bot, and I promise not to enslave humanity in the next three months." The hydrant sounded like a cheeky child.

    "I''m calling you, Clyde. Welcome to the team, and I hold you to that promise."

    "Hello, Milady! I''m a maintenance bot called M2H43." Her voice was eager and chippy.

    "I will call you Handy. Welcome to the team."

    "Greetings, Milady! I''m a general labor bot L5TW8 specialized on heavy lifting." To Flora''s amusement, he sounded like a British butler.

    "Welcome to the team, Forky!" Flora looked around. "Where is the fourth robot?"

    "There are only three helpers, Milady. Forky needs ten mana/minute when he lifts heavy containers. Therefore he requires two nocks."

    "Alright. What about the hand-held?" Flora unplugged the gizmo from her belt and inspected it from all sides.

    "It''s a datapad for communication."

    ''No battery compartment accessible without a screwdriver.''

    But she found two sockets, with one them looking like the Cetviwos standard jack would fit in, and she inserted one of Aidan''s. Finally, she pressed a button that looked like the power switch.

    The first screen was a list of her assigned work.

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    Quest: Repair Turret S24R91N85 on the Doom Moon

    Rewards: Bonus crafting XP

    Penalty: Degradation

    Difficulty: C

    ''Not now.'' Flora got a new icon on her HUD: ''Pending Quests''.

    After Flora checked with Aidan, that he had full access to her datapad, she browsed the other features: communication with the team and foreman, material requests, maps ''Download!'', blueprints of turrets ''Download!'', and manuals for a multitool and the bots ''Download!''.

    Immediately, she assigned Aidan the tedious work, searching the maps for escape routes and herself the exciting work to browse the manuals.

    Instantly, she fell in love with the multitool she had mistaken as a dentist gizmo. It was not only an all-purpose socket wrench, a grip, and a bit driver but also contained a small vibroblade and even a toothpick.

    "Aidan, order another one!"

    "They want a reason, Milady. Lost, broken, or other."

    "The reason is, I have two hands!" Flora paused. "Also add religious beliefs. I''m sure Evai wants me to have an abundance of the best tools."

    After that, she familiarized herself with the capabilities of the bots, including opening their maintenance slots. She closed Handy''s innards very quickly. They looked as if someone made spaghetti bolognese out of cables and motor oil. She couldn''t identify the material of the hash, and she didn''t want to.

    The other two bots guts were more orderly, but not by much. At least Flora learned a lot just by observing the joints and the actuation.

    Now, Flora felt ready to proceed.

    ''I accept the quest.''

    The scene changed again, and Flora found herself in a room full of turrets.

    After she ran a diagnosis program on the datapad, she ordered Clyde and Handy to start the repair.

    First, Flora did what competent engineers did in the company of skilled technicians: she kept her mouth closed and her eyes on the blueprint. Usually, she respected the time of other professionals too much to annoy them with basic questions, but she had less concern with robots.

    Handy and Clyde endured rapidly fired questions for the rest of the repair.

    Flora did all the checks on the list of the datapad successfully, and the completion message appeared.

    Quest completed: Repair Turret S24R91N85 on the Doom Moon

    Difficulty: C

    Completion: B

    Reward: Bonus XP for mechanics and electronics

    Quest: Exchange Turret S24R56N21 on the Doom Moon

    Rewards: Bonus crafting XP

    Penalty: Degradation

    Difficulty: C

    Flora''s crew dismantled the old turret, and Forky put the base of the new one in place. Flora found a spot where she wasn''t in the way and compared the progress with the blueprint. The robots worked well together. Forky provided the materials, and Handy did the mechanics and Clyde the electronics. Now and then, Flora asked why they''ve chosen a particular order, but they couldn''t provide an answer, but ''it''s in the guide''. Flora made Aidan take notes of her ramblings on optimization.

    After assembling the gun and security checks, this quest finished as well.

    Quest completed: Exchange Turret S24R56N21 on the Doom Moon

    Difficulty: C

    Completion: B

    Reward: Bonus XP for mechanics and electronics

    Quest: Survive a Birthday Party on the Doom Moon

    Reward:?

    Penalty: Scenario stops

    Time Limit: 1h 28min.

    Difficulty: B

    Flora found herself in a canteen. A shiny hologram hung ''Happy Birthday Screw Sue" over a buffet table with mostly humans and a few aliens milling around and trying to have a conversation over the music.

    ''What can be deadly at a birthday party?''

    First, Flora checked out the buffet. The punch glowed neon green, but as far as alcoholic party trinks went, that was pretty normal.

    A cake in the form of a hexagon nut and some colorful appetizers convinced Flora that she had to eat them to evaluate their danger level.

    Food Buff: Doom Moon party snacks: + 3 OV to physical micro-control.

    The cake was delicious. Therefore Flora extended her testing. ''You have to be thorough!''

    "Hey, Auntie Flora!" Jake stumbled towards her and put his arm around her for balance. "Look, my little Hope called me daddy!"

    A hologram with Elena and Hope started to play.

    "Say hello to your daddy." Elena coaxed.

    "Ello, Momma!" The toddler cheered.

    "Only know-it-alls get it on the first try. Wait for it." Jake said with his eyes never leaving the display.

    "Daddy, Honey. Say it to your daddy."

    "Dada!"

    "Yes! Did you hear it, my daughter is a genius!"

    "Yes, dear. Hope is the second cutest genius in the whole universe." Flora patted Jake''s back.

    "Haha. When she''s second, who would dare to claim the first spot?"

    Unfortunately, Flora couldn''t access her cloud drive for baby pics of Robby, but she compensated with verbal bragging.

    After they joked around for a bit, they compromised on a shared first place and sealed the agreement with a few toasts on their offspring. Jake leaned in and whispered. "I''ll show you something amazing."

    When Flora caught herself silent movie tiptoeing after Jake through the lively party room, she decided that the punch had been poisonous. ''Someone spiked it with ethanol, probably!''

    They left the party, slinked into a train, and left near the surface of the planet. Flora elbowed Jake to walk normally when they tiptoed into a patrol of armored troops.

    Flora stared at the ceiling. "Are these the cables we are to told needing check?"

    "Yes, cables. I like the cables very much. I''m the papa of cables. They call me ca-pa-ble." Jake double over laughing at his joke, but the patrol passed them without an issue.

    When they reached an elevator door, Jake brandished his multitool and started to work on the keypad.

    "Heavens, Jake. You could get fired for this! Let''s go back to the party."

    "Come on, old bat! I need you to see this!"

    Flora remembered that she was in-game and joined Jake.

    "In RL, I would''ve dragged you back on your earlobe! I''m still thinking about spanking you for calling me an old bat!"

    Jake chuckled weakly but grew silent when the doors opened.

    Display cases with heads filled the room!

    You could see the grey matter beginning to spill out of an alien with a cracked skull. Some heads had open mouthes with their last scream forever etched in their faces.

    Flora shuddered and looked at the floor.

    "This is horrifying! Why did you take me here?"

    "We are in the trophy room of Lady Mnoder." He pronounced the name like it was the devil''s favorite saint. "The heads and plasma swords belong to the enemies of the empire she had slain. She recorded all of her experiences."

    Now, guided by Jake, she spotted the statues holding the display cabinets. Crouching down, she touched the black stone of the humanoid figure.

    Lady Mnoder versus Hunibar Trebol - Mannequin-Routine

    "Do you feel alive?" Flora''s body asked the old man who kneeled exhausted before her.

    "I feel nothing but energy. I was born in energy and will return to energy after you kill me."

    "You missed out."

    Her red gloved hand patted the man''s head.

    Faster than Flora could process the movement, she brandished her plasma sword and beheaded him. Flora felt the familiar sensation of casting magical pull. The head didn''t hit the floor but flew directly into her hand.

    The routine ended.

    "Auntie Flow, do you think we are the good guys? Lady Mnoder is one of the most respected generals of the empire, and she sure as hell doesn''t behave like it." Jake''s big blue eyes shone with seriousness.

    Thousands of thoughts razed through Flora''s head.

    ''You and me, we are the good guys.''

    ''Burned toast, how did you father a child with this level of naivety?''

    ''You are precious. Don''t let them destroy you!''

    ''What if they are not the bad guys. Maybe this death star is for defensive purposes only? I shouldn''t mix up movie knowledge and what the scenario showed me.''

    Before Flora could formulate an answer, the elevator began to move.

    "Hide!" She spat and ran behind a bigger cabinet in the back of the room.

 28 28. Doom Moon - Part 2

    Flora crouched behind the display case, but she could see the elevator door opening via a reflection of another cabinet.

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    A female dressed from crown to spikey leather boots in red entered the room. She even wore a cape. Flora knew only the most important and powerful people wore capes, like superheroes or villains or Julius Cesar. ''I should get a cape!''

    As the female entered the room, Flora lost sight of her and only heard determined footsteps coming closer and closer.

    ''Should I stand up? I don''t want to die squatting!''

    A datapad beeped.

    "Speak!"

    "The terrorist started the attack on Doom Moon, Lady Mnoder. A fleet of 1000 destroyers arrived."

    "Very good. I''m on my way."

    ''Very good? This info doesn''t conform to my definition of very good!''

    Suddenly the sound of puking came from the other end of the room. Flora closed her eyes and wished that she could close her ears as well.

    "Come out."

    "Lady Mnodederer." Jake stuttered.

    "You desecrated my shrine, terrorist."

    The sound of a plasma sword filled the room. Then it stopped and was replaces by the dull sounds of knees, a tinny sound of metal gizmos on the belt, a thud for the upper body, and last, way too late for it still being attached, the lighter noise of a head hitting the floor.

    After Mnoder left, Flora sank down.

    Quest completed: Survive a Birthday Party on the Doom Moon

    Reward: none

    Difficulty: B

    Completion: B

    Quest: Survive and maintain the defensive structures on the Doom Moon

    Reward: Bonus Crafting XP

    Penalty: Scenario stops

    Current status of the turrets: 91 %

    Time Limit: 45 min.

    Difficulty: B

    ''Not now!''

    Flora picked herself up and walked to Jake''s body. Slowly, she shook her head.

    "I''m sorry, mate. All I can give you is a half baked funeral."

    Her gaze went over the heads.

    "I''m too weak to take proper revenge against someone who wears a cape," Flora smirked without joy. "But I''m ca-pa-ble to do a bit of property destruction."

    Methodically, Flora dismantled the cabinets. After putting all heads and Jake on a pile in the corner of the room, she fetched the original treasure chest from her inventory. It contained her camping equipment, including the lighter fluid and coals, which she added to the pile.

    Flora checked the room to see if she had forgotten anyone. Although she found no further heads, she decided that it would be a waste to burn the plasma swords and the mannequin-routines. Therefore she transferred them into her treasure chest besides two of the sabers. One went to her belt and one to light the fire. After putting the container back into her inventory, Flora collected herself for the ceremony.

    "Rest in peace. You lived the way of the sword and the way of the multi-tool. May they light the way to the afterlife." She activated the welder of Jake''s tool and the plasma sword and threw them into the pile. "By the power vested in me by the goddess Evailyn, I pronounce you, um. No, that is the wrong start!

    Again!

    Receive the Evailyn''s blessing. The Lady bless you and watch over you. The Lady make her tools shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lady look kindly on you and give you peace. In the Name of the System, and of the Goddess Evailyn and of the Holy, um, Toaster."

    Flora sighed.

    "Aidan, please research funeral rites of the Cetviwos'', especially Evailyn''s." Flora sighed again. "At least the fire is burning hot."

    ----------

    You gained an Achievement: ''Laying the dead to rest'': You performed a funeral rite for the natives.

    - + 1 OV to the affinity/resistance death magic

    ----------

    The goddess Evailyn approves of your heartfelt prayer: + 1 OV to faith.

    ----------

    Suddenly the elevator door opened. Before Flora registered what happened, she was blasted across the room.

    "I won''t give you an easy death!"

    While Flora skitted through the rubble, she had to admit that Lady Mnoder knew how to make an entrance.

    ''I accept the quest! Please port me out of here fast, dear System!''

    ----------

    You are currently in a fight. The scenario will proceed afterward.

    ----------

    Flora rolled to her feet and tried to fetch Mr. Twitchy''s gun out of her inventory.

    ----------

    You are currently in a fight. You can''t access your inventory in combat.

    ----------

    "Oh, I will write a letter of complaint about you! A formal letter! The company probably won''t even know what that is, but I don''t care!" Flora shouted out loud in her anger.

    "I''m sure my boss, Emperess Hassmath, will deeply care about your feelings and address them properly."

    First, Flora perked up. Of course, she had aimed her tirade at the System initially. Still, a hit was a hit. But then she remembered that nasty habit of non-nerds.

    "You are using sarcasm! Against an engineer! I will mention that in my letter, too!" Flora added for shit and giggles. The situation had blown away her sense of reality.

    The funeral fire painted the dark metallic room in red, and the lights of the flames got reflected by Lady Mnoder''s scarlet armor. She looked like she was burning through the smoke as she swaggered towards Flora.

    Name: Mnoder

    Level: 200

    Class: Energymaster

    Title: Lady

    Rating: A

    RPS: 3

    ''Hey, System. We are having a totally civil, maybe slightly heated debate over here. Not a fight! Not a fight at all!''

    "So what part of you do I cut off first? Maybe that letter writing hand?"

    "No need to remove my hand. Voice recording software is excellent these days. Oh, that sounds like I would suggest the throat. I should stop talking. Where is the pause button?"

    Aidan to Flora: "Milady, the command is ''PAUSE scenario PAUSE''."

    ''PAUSE scenario PAUSE!''

    ----------

    You are currently in a fight. You can''t pause a scenario during combat. For emergencies, use the commando EXIT scenario EXIT.

    ----------

    ''Concentrate on the scenario. Forget about all the mean things you want to do to the System like cutting his electricity supply, introducing some bugs to his server farm, programming toasters to throw shuriken toasts in his blue windows ... This isn''t working!''

    "I only cut off the heads of enemies I respect. Or sometimes when I feel merciful."

    "Or when you kill your own son."

    "What did you say!"

    Lady Mnoder extended her hand. Glowing tendrils sneaked out and lifted Flora by her throat.

    "Not the best strategy to restrict the breathing of people you want to answer your questions!" Flora croaked. She desperately pushed back with her own magic, and breathing got more manageable.

    "What did you say about my son?"

    Flora couldn''t say that Vader sounded to a German a lot like ''father'' and Mnoder similar to ''mother''. She had to trust in genetics.

    "You must have recognized his eyes. The rare shade of blue."

    Abruptly, Mnoder dropped Flora and ran to the pyre.

    The scene changed again. First, Flora took a deep breath. But she couldn''t relax at all. Through the canon slits, she could see spaceships shooting at her position. Handy, Clyde, and Forky busied themselves with repairing the turrets.

    Current status of the turrets: 17 %

    Time Limit: 7min 21sec.

    "Milady! Use your datapad to scan for errors." Forky exclaimed.

    Flora jumped to the cannon Handy worked. "Deformed ionic valve. Probably overheated."

    Directly, she went to the next installation.

    "Rail mechanism jammed. Forky, give it a push in this direction!"

    !

    This spell is not available in the scenario!

    She skipped the next turret because it smoked.

    Doing it manually was to much hassle when she had more straightforward repairs to choose from.

    As soon as they fixed one turret, the next gun broke down. It was like cutting butter in the summer heat. Futile, disgusting, and it would be much more effective just to dip the toast into it or use a spoon.

    When the time limit neared 15 seconds, Flora saw a formation of fighter ships zeroing in on their location.

    "Retreat!"

    Flora fetched Clyde on the way to the door, and Handy was hot on their heels. Of course, Flora chose a perpendicular corridor to flee - no outrunning blasts in a straight line for engineers.

    When the explosion came, it still threw Flora to the ground and gave her a "hearing impaired" debuff.

    Quest completed: Survive and maintain the defensive structures on the Doom Moon

    Reward: Bonus Mechanics and Electronics XP

    Current status of the turrets: 27 %

    Difficulty: B

    Completion: D

    "Heavens. What did the other users do that over 20% rated worse than me who was absent most of the time?"

    "They were missing the whole time, Milady. Some recommended skipping the last quest to loot the warehouse in the chaos of the attack."

    Time until the explosion of the Doom Moon: 5min.

    "What no quest? Where are the escape pods, dear?"

    "There aren''t any escape pods on the Doom Moon, Milady. Because of the explosion, this sector has been cordoned off. We can''t reach a hangar in the remaining time."

    "I don''t approve of this hazardous working environment! Remind me to include a letter to the workers'' union the next time we are playing this scenario." Flora equipped her goldfish bowl because the air was getting a bit thin. "Let''s get some booty."

    With Handy''s and Clyde''s help, Flora filled up one of the treasure chests with turret parts and wall paneling. Flora transferred the heavy, mostly intact pieces like the remains of Forky directly into her inventory. The lighter parts landed in the container. The hole in the turret tower and half the room were filled with foam, but there was still more than enough stuff to collect. At the last moment, Flora put the robots in her inventory.

    Then a light pierced her vision.

    The Doom Moon exploded. Due to the pressure wave, your loot got destroyed.

    We hope you enjoyed playing the scenario ''Groom the Doom Moon''. Please rate it at the Cetviwos Shop!

    Flora found herself in the training coffin. Her room looked like the Doom Moon exploded in it. The floor was covered in metals and plastics.

    Wordlessly, Flora sat down on a yellow bar. ''One of Forky''s parts, maybe.''

    "Milady, the Wing Tsun course is going to start in 5 minutes."

    Slowly, Flora rose up and exited her flat.

    Then she exploded with speed and expletives.

    "Rate this *bleep*ing scenario? Sure, I will rate it! Minus 3,14 stars!" She exclaimed, jumping to the teleportation circle.

    "BLEAMTO the seven masters dojo TOBLEAM and learn to design doable scenarios!"

    While sprinting to the building, Flora''s mouth never stopped complaining.

    "So, you think I will let you kill off all my companions?"

    She power jumped two floors in the staircase and vaulted over the railing.

    "Think again! Not on my watch!"

    With only seconds to spare, she slid into the classroom.

    "I will do this again until everybody survives!" She shouted with raised fists.

    The pupils and coaches starred at her.

    "Hey, that''s kind of original. All the other villains want everybody to die." a classmate mumbled.

    This Wing Tsun lessons, Flora had no problem at all punching with full power.

 29 29. Wing Tsun Advancement and Eddie

    After the Wing Tsun training, Flora had still energy to spare and aggressions to express.

    She decided to take the test for the Beginner-1-Course now.

    Quest: Complete Beginner-1 Wing Tsun

    Rewards:

    Advancement to Beginner-2

    Reputation with the Seven Masters Dojo

    Belt Button

    Bonus Melee XP

    Penalty: none

    Difficulty: C

    First, she stood with the other pupils in five rows, and they performed the first section of the first form, Siu Lim Tao.

    You gained 2 out of 2 points for the execution of Siu Lim Tao.

    The coaches divided the students into 12 groups of 5 persons each ¡ª four groups with only females, one mixed group, and the rest all male.

    The coach explained that they do this because of cultural reasons. In some cultures, it was frowned upon for a man to hit a woman. Other traditions forbid bodily contact between the sexes before/after marriage and so on.

    The first round consisted of a round-robin, everybody against everybody else in the same group. The two persons with the highest points advanced to the next phase and passed the examination.

    The following elimination tournament started with the best one against the runner up of another group.

    Flora got sorted into an all-female group. She recognized none of the women. Therefore she checked out their badges.

    ''We will see if the rating translates into fighting performance.''

    Flora''s first fight was against a tall blond woman. She looked athletic but didn''t seem to take the competition seriously because she flirted with a boy from another group.

    Nickname: Holysandre Savorista

    Level: 6

    Class: Pupil

    Clan: Hunter''s Hunger

    Active Title: The Beautiful

    Rating: B

    They went through a portal together and arrived in a boxing ring.

    While the countdown started, Flora bowed and centered herself.

    Her opponent stood in the standard defensive posture with one arm extended and one arm closer to the body.

    Wing Tsun focused on self-defense in the beginner courses. Therefore initiating aggression still felt strange to Flora. But someone had to start the fight, so Flora volunteered.

    She ran towards Holysandre and kicked her in the front. The woman did what Wing Tsun taught them: She tried to parry it with her hands.

    It changed the tractory of Flora''s kick insignificantly. Power and momentum triumphed over technique.

    Holy doubled over and even caught an elbow on the back of the head on the way down. Flora fixed her with the knee and rained chain punches on her.

    The fight ended with Flora winning.

    Her next opponent was a Mediterranean woman in her forties. She looked competent, had a high level, and even a class related to fighting.

    Nick-name: Rubina Rubin

    Level: 14

    Class: Martial Artist

    Rating: A

    Immediately, Flora criticized herself for losing the battle in her head before it had even started.

    ''Statistics are the long game; having heart is the short game.'' one of Robby''s trainers told Flora once when she tried to console Robby about a lousy fight.

    When the fight started, they approached each other and kicked at the same time. Rubina pivoted and absorbed the impact better than Flora, who stumbled backward. Quickly, she followed up with punches, but Flora managed to get her hands up and kneed Rubina in the side.

    Immediately, her opponent smashed her heel on Flora''s supporting leg''s angle, which caused Flora to slip again.

    ''Dirty! I like it!''

    This time Flora saved herself with a backroll. This caught Rubina by surprise, and Flora managed to land a hefty uppercut.

    They traded blows and kicks with relish.

    Rubina won the upper hand a few times more, but Flora toughed it out and dished out some hurt of her own.

    Flora''s health-bar was in the last quarter and sinking. Though she had no exact way to gauge Rubina''s health, she looked battered as well.

    Both had their hands in front of the body and tried to find holes in the defense. Suddenly, Rubina jumped back and kicked Flora''s unprotected knee. Flora didn''t survive her third stumble.

    Her next adversary, a girl with bad posture and dull black hair, greeted Flora politely before they entered the ring.

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    Nick-name: Razorsharp Whirlwind

    Level: 3

    Rating: C

    As soon as the battle started, Razorsharp''s demeanor changed. Flora had the impression of facing a seasoned assassin instead of a moody teenager.

    Razorsharp zigzagged to Flora''s position and ducked under Flora''s first kick. But Flora''s second kick hit her head hart, and she went out.

    After the fight, Flora had to wait for a bit for the other duels to finish. Now she felt the strains of the day. ''One more win and I finish the course. I just have to concentrate a bit more.''

    Unicorny was a young black woman with her hair styled into a unicorn horn.

    "If you hit me with this, I call foul!" Flora joked.

    "No, worries. I only poke virgins." The girl countered.

    Flora tried to remember when she had sex the last time. It was so long ago that there was a chance that she had regrown her hymen in the meantime.

    Nickname: Unicorny Festoon

    Level: 11

    Class: Driver

    Clan: BoboBowerBangers

    Rating: F

    The fight started with them being evenly matched. Flora got a few good kicks in, but Unicorny hit her with a chain punches in the side after her concentration slipped. Overall, Flora felt, she fought her worst, but she didn''t have the energy or adrenalin left to up her game.

    They started a war of attrition, which Flora won thanks to her stats.

    Flora got 2 points for each win in addition to the 2 points from the forms. This placed her second behind Rubina in her group. Not only did she pass the test, but she also advanced to the next round.

    After all of today''s tribulations, Flora was mentally spent.

    She considered going to the coaches and quit or surrendering at the beginning of the next fight. There was always the option to toughen it out and hope for sudden enlightenment or second wind.

    This was one of the situations she found herself countless times in the past. She knew that she was already past her limits. Flora knew she would regret the decision the next day, no matter which option she chose.

    Suddenly she remembered that she had a new choice: the auto-mode. ''Why not, nothing to lose.''

    The coaches called Flora''s name for the next round. At the same time, a window appeared in front of her eyes. Absentmindedly, she wished it away.

    In the next fight, the tournament matched her with a stocky Latina.

    Nickname: Condessa DeFadas

    Level: 9

    Class: Soldier

    Clan: Aluzquebraaescravid?o

    Rating: A

    ''Go, go, auto-mode! I''m rooting for you! Attack!''

    Battling in auto-mode felt slower than a regular fight. Unfortunately, Flora had no resources left to compare the two in further detail. She just mentally yelled ''Attack'' and sometimes ''Defend'' and giggled now and then.

    Before Flora realized it, the fight was over, and she had won.

    ''Alright, I can do this again!''

    "Aidan, can we record this tussle as an experio?"

    "Of course, milady."

    Flora lost the next fight but had fun yelling commandos.

    Congratulations! Your rating in Hand-to-Hand Combat rose to ''C''!

    She took the shortest way home and from there straight to the coffin and in the bed.

    The next morning she remembered for the first time since she slept in the virtual world, her dream. She had battled with Lady Mnoder using Wing Tsun in auto-mode.

    "Auto-mode fighting feels like cheating, Aidan. I wonder why they didn''t deactivate it, at least for the examination."

    "Well, Milady. The Seven Masters Dojo has auto-mode deactivated in its whole compound".

    This information took a while to wander from Flora''s ear to the mind and the consciousness. There it took a dump and vanished.

    "What?"

    "My best explanation is that you accessed the system subconsciously."

    "What system? The auto-mode or the Cetviwos?"

    "Your guess is as good as mine. I''m sorry! This proverb is not appropriate. Of course, your guesses are better than mine, Milady!"

    Flora snorted and decided to ask the boss.

    "System, what happened last night with the auto-mode?"

    "The activation of the auto-mode failed at 23:52:14, and I sent you a notification about it."

    "And?"

    "That is all the information I had about the auto-mode last night."

    "Then what happened at the fight after the failed activation?"

    "You have expended your daily limit of system requests. Please raise your limit in the Cetviwos-Shop."

    "I forgot about that. Let''s go on with our lives and forget about it again. Well, Aidan. Let''s think about how to ace the Doom Moon scenario, or is there anything else on the agenda for today?"

    Aidan reminded Flora that she now qualified for the pupil class and that her message log was soon on the limit, and her mailbox filled.

    Flora left the workshop and balanced over the Doom Moon parts on the floor to her mailbox.

    A shop called Racketfun showed interest in her Rainbow Intensity Meter skin but suggested that the color loss was too fast for tennis or squash in which you had to fetch the ball as part of the gameplay.

    "Fair point, Aidan, remind me to look into it, Prio B-!"

    Along with sales sheets from Huffgrin, Ricky''s Runners, and the PirouetteFreaks (421,95 VirDos, 348 263 Credits), she found a summary of her royalties earned (196,55 VirDos, 37 851 Credits).

    The marketplace and auction house sales came es single mail for every transaction. Flora ordered Aidan to sort it out. The 100 skins in the marketplace sold out, but some of the auctions were still running. Still, she made 659,3 VirDos.

    Her big grin broadened when she read the next mail ¡ª a tax form from Clan Riverstones.

    ''I never had so much fun paying taxes! Maybe if Robby ran for office, I would feel more satisfaction paying regular taxes.''

    Flora configured it to get deducted automatically and watched 30% of her newly earned money vanish.

    ''What a pity that I can''t attach a message: With love from Mommy XOXO.''

    The next message was from CentralTank.

    Dear Flora Fluss,

    welcome to the Cetviwos! [...]

    We got notified that you are engaging a longterm stay in our words. [...]

    We appreciate our good business relationship in the past. [...]

    For our brain studies, we love to examine your brain waves on a deeper level. [...]

    We offer a weekly pay of 5000 VirDos. [...]

    ''They want a daily scan of my brain!'' Flora was at the same time bewildered and pleased. ''100 bucks, this relates to the auto-mode malfunction yesterday!''

    She wrote back that their offer was attractive, but that she was in a contract negotiation with CentralTank currently over trademark issues. This matter had to wait until the former was resolved.

    For last, she saved the best mail.

    Huhu Darling!

    I''m in! Awesome stuff!

    Let''s meet. Warning: I''m even more handsome than before!

    Love Eddie, now Shiny Frenemy

    Huhu Eddie,

    I''m on my way to the Cetviwos Academy for Newbie Infos. Do you want to join me? I don''t own sunglasses, so I fear for my eyes, but I will risk meeting you!

    Love Flo

    With all mail answered, she was free to explore the Acadamy.

    "I''ll give Eddie five minutes to react to my letter. Is there any other way to contact him, Aidan?"

    "Yes, Milady, via phone. You could send him a friend request via mail as well so you can communicate telepathically."

    Simultaneously, Flora sent a friend request and called him. They agreed to meet at the Academy.

    The building reminded her of countless libraries she had seen in Germany and northern Europe: red bricks intermixed with yellow bricks and masonry as decorative elements.

    Flora entered a hall in warm earthen colors with a receptionist behind a carved wooden desk and the familiar check-in pedestal next to it.

    A familiar silhouette chatted up the receptionist and made her blush and roll her eyes. If you did an image search for a librarian, you would get the kind of lady, except she was blue-skinned with icy hair, of course, in a bun.

    "Good morning," Flora announced her existence.

    Eddie whirled around and hugged her. "Great, we can start!"

    "Just let me check in first."

    After Flora swiped her badge, she tapped the quest-section first.

    Daily-Quest: Jump ''n'' Run! - Scenario

    Description: Challenge a scenario in the category Jump ''n'' Run.

    Reward: Partial refund of the scenario

    Penalty: None

    Difficulty: E

    Weekly-Quest: Experience the Stoneage! - History World

    Description: Visit the history world and choose a stone age instance.

    Reward: Voucher for five visits to the history world.

    Penalty: None

    Difficulty: E

    Quest: Ready to learn! - Metaworld

    Description: Take three courses for different abilities and walk the Trail of Worlds and watch the introductory movie.

    Reward: Class Pupil.

    Penalty: None.

    Difficulty: D

    Flora accepted the daily quest and the last quest. She wasn''t interested in the stone ages. To her knowledge, they had no toasters.

    "I''m here for the pupil quest, but do you have any additional pointers for Cetviwos Newcomers ¡ª especially people like Shiny and me who are not familiar with gaming?" Flora asked the receptionist.

    "Speak for yourself. I''m fantastic at gaming." He gave them an easy smile. Then he actually winked. Flora groaned, and the receptionist rolled her eyes, but both giggled like schoolgirls.

    "I might have a piece of advice! Come back to me after you finished the quest, and we''ll speak again."

    Flora nodded and bid her farewell.

    "So, what do you say!" Eddie spread his arms and did a full turn that Flora could inspect him 360 degrees.

    "So handsome!" Flora fluttered her lashes. "But now I feel like your mother! You look younger than Robby!"

    Eddie had always been good looking and vain about it. He still had his Errol Flynn mustache and grey temples, but his face was devoid of any age-related markings. Contrary to what Flora said, he looked more timeless than young. His 1940 style light plaid double-breasted suit accentuated this and his broad shoulders.

    Aidan guided them to the entry of the Trail of Worlds.

 30 30. The Trail of Worlds

    The entry to the trail of worlds resided on the second floor of the academy building. On the way, Flora crammed as much knowledge as she could into the grinning Eddie.

    "I summarize: Stats are great, get higher ones. Don''t level until I know what to do, and AIs are my friends?"

    "You got it, dear!"

    "Weren''t we of the opinion that they take over the world and enslave humanity?"

    "Shush! AIs are our friends."

    "But I spend all my money on my lair! There''s nothing left for an artificial friend to curb my loneliness! This daily limit is gruesome. We are old and rich. We should be allowed to waste the inheritance of our children!"

    Flora tried to remit him 5000 VirDos, but the System only allowed her to transfer 1000.

    "Thanks, I pay you back with RL Money!" Eddie paused. "The blue window says no. Oh well, back to the good old times where I''m a kept innocent boy getting spoiled by old women!"

    "Nice! Follow me, Boy Toy!" Smirking, Flora swaggered away.

    After entering together through a portal, Flora found herself alone in a circular room.

    Before she had even time to get confused, a window popped up.

    "Do you want to join Shiny Frenemy''s party?"

    After confirming, Eddie appeared next to her.

    The lights dimmed. Stars and the sun started to appear. Then, behind the sun, a blue planet rotated into view.

    Flora shuddered. Experiencing the space through the shuttle window wasn''t that different than watching 2001 space odyssey on TV, but standing in the middle of a lot of nothing surrounded by glowing objects left an impression.

    "Awesome!" Eddie whispered.

    Next, the floor under her feet vanished. Flora felt herself moving into the direction of the planet. Of course, there was no wind or gravity, but still, she felt a pull from the planet.

    Flora took deep breaths and slowly exhaled.

    "Stop the flight, please. I need a moment to adjust."

    "What? The fun just began!"

    The pulling sensation stopped. The inertia carried her along, but Flora noticed that she could control her flight with her willpower or maybe magic.

    "And why can you regulate this experience?"

    "Because the AIs are my friends." Then Flora ignored Eddie and assessed the situation. "I can breathe. That''s good. I''m not freezing. Great! I''m flying through space, which doesn''t fit together with the first two observations, but I''m not complaining about not dying."

    "Don''t think, just feel!" Eddie somersaulted in slow motion.

    The planet still moved in her direction, and Flora realized what had put her knickers in a twist: It was too fast, and it had no moon. While she was fighting to get a grip on herself, a quarter of a year had passed, at least according to the movement of the planet.

    Now that she knew why her instincts screamed ''something is wrong'' she was able to relax and look around.

    Flora saw even fewer stars than at night, maybe because of light pollution of the sun, nor other planets.

    Of course, she related her observations to Eddie, who chuckled. If he let overly detailed comments spoil his mood, he wouldn''t be friends with Flora.

    "Thank you. We can resume the journey."

    Orchestral music did its best to create a majestic mood but was wasted on Flora, who started to get impatient.

    "Feel free to speed up."

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    "They forgot to add the clouds, as well," Flora added as the planet got nearer and nearer. Now, she could distinguish the different landmasses, the Americas, Africa, Eurasia, and another continent in the pacific. She was pretty sure that she never learned about it in geography.

    "Welcome to the Metaworld!" said a sonorous voice.

    "Thank you, how may we call you?"

    "I''m the Trail of Worlds."

    "This is slightly awkward. We have a quest to walk you." Flora imagined a dog leash with a mini solar system on the other end and her waiting next to tree until it finished its business.

    "Do you think it pees Meteorshowers?" Flora asked Eddie.

    "Joining you was the best decision ever!"

    "Another option would be trampling all over the poor AI. I neither want to do that!"

    "You are currently on the Trail of Worlds. No trampling necessary, thank you." The voice answered wryly, which send Eddie into another ''rolling on the air laughing'' fit.

    Flora looked at her feet. They were a few kilometers above Europe.

    "Alright. You would know best."

    The Trail of Worlds told them about the Metaworld. Both entered it via the nearest node of their home country, which had been Frankfurt.

    Users built everything besides the portals and the plaza they were standing on. An exception to this rule was the island Pacifica. There resided the gateways to the other worlds and Cities created by CentralTank.

    The continent under them came closer.

    She knew that from the context, she was zeroing in on Frankfurt, but she didn''t recognize any country marks but the Rhine and maybe the river Main if their target was Frankfurt. Without any cities and the Autobahn, it was difficult to get one''s bearings.

    The skyline of the approaching city looked nothing like the Frankfurt she knew. The flight stopped with her hovering above the diamond-shaped plaza she had entered the Metaworld last Saturday.

    "Well, I recognize nothing from the real world."

    "I believe this could be the Roemer." Eddie speculated and pointed at a historic pink house. "Could you show us Berlin or London or Paris?"

    The Trail of Worlds acquitted. In Berlin, they landed at the Brandenburger Tor, in London on Trafalgar Square, and in Paris in front of the Eiffel tower.

    Flora watched out for other landmarks, especially London was full of them with the Big Ben, the London Bridge, the London Eye, and the Buckingham Palace but spotted none of them. There was a prominent tower, but it looked more like Big Ben''s illegitimate child with a 22nd century UFO landing pad than a clocktower.

    Flora wouldn''t have thought it possible, but in this world, big companies and their logos and advertisement were even more pronounced than in the RL.

    She spotted SAPling Palace and Daimeler District. Eddie pointed out Teutsche Delekom Magenta Castle (''My eyes!''), and the E.off Estate.

    "So, I can build whatever wherever I want if another building doesn''t occupy the place?" Flora asked.

    "And if nobody bought the land before you and it is within your home country."

    "I want a treasure island!" Eddie interjected.

    "I want a factory!"

    "You can build your factory on my treasure island. Not only to produce the treasure but also to blow smoke out of the eye sockets of my skull-shaped lair!"

    "Great, let''s make it cyborg skull, I want a lot of pipes and blinking lights as well."

    Next, the Trail of Worlds told them about scenarios and the Metaworld TV. She already knew about the first. The second was where multiple TV Channels with news about the Cetviwos and view on-demand channels with movies and series produced in the Cetviwos. Most of the programs could not only be watched like TV but had a port-in-the-scene function. Here you entered the movie set and could ghost around.

    Of course, experios for the main characters were the most popular feature.

    Eddie asked further questions about the TV features. He had worked as an actor and later as a moderator on a shopping channel. Back then, he had met Flora at a launch party when they included a line of Flora''s household appliances in their program.

    "We might have to add a film studio on the island." Flora grinned, and Eddie flashed her thumbs up before he resumed with his questions.

    Afterward followed a series of sponsored clips for a multitude of activities. Flora instructed Aidan to remind her of some, while Eddie commented on the quality of the presentation.

    "Are you ready for the next worlds?"

    "Sure!" They both nodded.

    The Trail of Worlds whisked them to Pacifica.

    "This is the Tourist Triangle, the hub for the gateways to the tourism worlds! You can access the tourist words via every node and gateway, but here you can find quests, special offers, and information about events."

    Flora flew a slowly around the plaza. Between the big gateways, people mingled, and vendors praised their wares.

    Neon signs surrounded the glowing arcs. "Today 50% off all horror houses" at the gateway to the Amusement Park world, "Buy one, get two jetski rides!" at the Water-World and "Triceratops Travels - Experience the Cretaceous Period on a groovy ride!" at the Paleo Planet portal.

    The Trail of Worlds said a few sentences to every world, and Flora communicated with Eddie and Aidan about which she wanted to take a closer look.

    "You may choose a world each for a sneak peek."

    "I want to see the No Humans Planet. Especially, the region where on Earth Netherland is located. Without dikes, the area is probably underwater. On the other hand, it probably depends how much the developers attribute climate change to human influences.

    Maybe Egypt is a better example. People used the power of the Nile for over 6000 years. Probably longer." Flora couldn''t wrap her head around the concept of a planet based on the Earth in the current era but without any humans.

    They took flight over breathtaking mountains, soaring with eagles. Packs of wolfs roamed majestic woods, and schools of orcas jumped through the clear water.

    Gradually, Flora''s frown grew deeper. The reason for her displeasure wasn''t solely because of the lack of toasters. But she felt that the construction of the planet wanted to shove some anti-humanity propaganda down her throat.

    "What happens when I build a cottage?"

    "We reset the whole planet every week. Then, all traces of the tourists will be extinguished."

    Flora snorted. "We can leave now. This is no place for engineers."

    "Nor for artists. For inspiration, maybe, but what is inspiration without actualization?" Eddie added.

    "Yes, and it feels artificial without being art. Please choose a better world than me."

    Eddie decided on the Water World.

    The Trail of Worlds showed them the longest waterslide in the Cetviwos with 23 km, the sky falls, a whole region with nothing but waterfalls, furthermore underwater cities, and boat cities. Over the entire planet, no natural surface but water existed. They even build floating islands with swimming pools.

    After visiting the ice palaces on the north pole, they left the world, and Flora congratulated Eddie on a choice well made. She saw several fascinating sights she wanted to explore in more detail.

    Next, the Trail of Worlds showed them the hub for the entries to the game worlds.

    "The Cetviwos offer a place for every game humankind has ever imagined. Some of these games occupy whole universes like the Space-Game or at least multiple planets like the Merc-Game or the KingdomBuilding-Game."

    Flora spotted an advertisement for "Manchester Allstars vs. Bavaria Munich - 20:00:00 CUT - Finest Football." next to gateway ''Sports and Boards'' and pointed it out to Eddie, who wrinkled his nose. No respectable hipster would ever support Bavaria Munich.

    "Milady, Tricky Beach is in this world."

    "What? But I beamed directly from my lair to it."

    "If you have discovered a port circle, you can teleport to it from any place beaming is possible. Most circles are free to use, but it is common in the tourism worlds to raise a fee. In the academy, you can find a list of public destinations you can beam to directly."

    "Download the inventory when we are back, dear."

    The Trail of Worlds introduced the game worlds to Flora and Eddie. Here the word "servers" was more often used then worlds because places like ''Panem et Ludos'' were impossible to represent in the physical world.

    This server consisted of arenas with the usual seating plus a ring of restaurants surrounding the pit. A popular stadium like ''3v3 100lvl-200lvl, last man standing, no rules'' offered 5000 seats. If they were full, a new instance was created with another 5000 open positions.

    You could switch between arenas seamlessly.

    The restaurants advertised not only their menus but also to which stadium they connected. Some didn''t show fixed arenas but linked to guilds or star players.

    "But what happens in the pit? Are there only fights or other competitions as well?"

    "Every event has a fighting aspect. For pure sports or races, the server ''Sports and Boards'' is the right place. Both servers feature mixed events."

    The Trail of Worlds gave Flora a crash course on PvP modes like capture the flag, domination, jailbreak, missions, and deathmatch. Eddie filled in as a color commentator.

    "Thank you. I think I have to see it to imagine it. People are always so creative in finding ways to kill each other." Flora was confused but amused. "And you didn''t fib when you said you know about gaming! When did you have time for that?"

    "I played a Massive Multiplayer Online Roleplay Game in my twenties. Pretty intensively, if I may admit."

    "But you were a huge movie star back then! Whole Germany wanted to *bleep* you, have you as a son-in-law or gay best friend! Or a combination of them!"

    "I was shy! And in over my head. So I hid in a basement and behind a computer screen."

    Flora nodded. She would have probably done the same.

    Next, the Trail of Worlds explained the different servers.

    First, Flora was excited when she heard that the kids-server had no blood and no killing humanoids, but she was soon disappointed to learn that she wasn''t allowed to play at it. Only the guardians of kids could accompany them.

    "Another reason to exert pressure on Robby! But when my future grandchild is old enough to play, I would be 83. Oh well, he could adopt an adorable 12-year-old. Are there adorable children this age? Probably not."

    "I lend you Armin in 3 years when he''s twelve. For a small fee, of course. Granny-sitting is hard in your case. He should be generously compensated."

    "How is Aimee''s marriage? Still going strong?"

    "Yes, unfortunately. I would have called you immediately otherwise!"

    They both sighed exaggeratedly. They spend years teasing their kids to hook up, which, of course, caused the opposite reaction.

    Meanwhile, the Trail of Worlds continued the presentation of the servers.

    The Massive Multiplayer Online Games shared one server, the Cradle for the first five levels. Then they split for level 5-100 on different servers. For the Merc-Game, every half year, a new 5-100 server opened up. The next one was scheduled in just a few weeks.

    "I looked into it. It''s beneficial to start on a new server because there are good rewards for competitive achievements. On the old servers, they rose unreasonably high with time. The new server is a clean slate. Are you up to it?" Eddie asked.

    "I haven''t decided yet. All I know is that I want to make a hero''s entrance on the Cradle on Sunday. Because I have an appointment on Monday with Evailyn." Flora proceded to tell him about Evai.

    "You should totally get an army of toasters and conquer the games!" Eddie laughed while Flora nodded earnestly.

    Finally, the tour ended, and Flora and Eddie found themselves back in the round room they had started.

 31 31. The Class System

    After the Trail of Words conjured Flora and Eddie two cinema seats, the movie started.

    First, the movie explained all the settings of the heads up display (HUD).

    Eddie advised her to allow group members to see her health, stamina, mana, and concentration bars and make them visible for herself.

    "So you know when to heal someone or when you can''t expect any help soon, because they are OOM, out of mana."

    They starred over each other''s heads where the bars had appeared.

    "You are 95% dead!" Eddie exclaimed.

    "And you are much too healthy, and even your mana bar is full!" Flora was equally appalled.

    After Flora explained to him her training measures and philosophy, she activated friendly fire to help Eddie getting rid of all that excess health.

    "This is what I call toxic femininity!" Eddie mumbled and leaned away from Flora. "Please, Trail, make the seats a bit broader. This woman might kill me otherwise."

    Flora handed him two health potions for emergencies.

    "Sure, this isn''t poison?" Eddie asked while he checked the flasks carefully.

    Flora nodded. "Yes, poisons are mainly yellow and neon green. If you want some, I have some."

    Eddie laughed and shook his head.

    Next, the movie explained the badges. Flora didn''t know that you could see from the shape alone how powerful your opponent was. Eddies and her badge had a platin and gold circle around their level, which meant that they were unranked. Weak enemies or E rated players had only a silver circle, regular enemies, or D rated players a golden ring. Starting from C spikes protruded out of the gold circle: Two spikes for C or Soldiers, four for B or Sergeants, six for A or Bosses, and eight for S or Big Bosses.

    NPC had an additional feature. They had stripes on the upper corner of their badges, which represented the recommended group size when fighting against those. Flora changed the display to a number.

    "Aidan, show me Lady Mnoder''s badge."

    Her level was 200, and six spikes protruded from the circle. The recommended group size in the upper right corner showed a 3.

    "That means she is a boss, and you should bring two friends to confront her, right?"

    "Yes, Milady. The group should have roughly the same level as the enemy as well."

    "You got beef with a level 200 boss?" Eddie laughed at Flora. "How did you even manage to encounter one?"

    Flora told him and even showed him the technician''s uniform. Alone the thought of having to wear the ugly dress dissuaded Eddie from offering his companionship in the scenario, but he gave Flora some pointers.

    "Hmm. You can forget about fighting the boss directly, but when the moon is under attack, maybe she gets hurt and weakened?"

    "So the key is not to let her come back to the trophy room. I might have tripped an alarm when I dismantled the place. Of course, Jake and I have to survive the first encounter with her. I have an idea for that."

    "From a cinematic angle, it''s Jake''s job to confront her and maybe lose a hand."

    "Good point!"

    The movie continued to the class system.

    Branches:

    Warrior: Uses mainly physical attributes and specialize in combat. Example: Soldier - proficient in basic ranged and melee combat.

    Mage: Uses mainly magical attributes and specializes in magic.

    Example: Ice mage - Uses the power of the cold to freeze and damage his enemies.

    Trickster: Uses control stats to control situations.

    Example: Thief - Specializes in acquiring things they don''t own and backstabbing.

    Tech: Uses technological products to strengthen himself.

    Example: Driver - Able to drive vehicles and to use them in combat.

    Divine: Uses the powers of their gods to further their goals.

    Example: Priest - Heals the believers and smites the heathens.

    Nature: Uses their connection with nature to accomplish their goals.

    Example: Ranger - Able to survive in the wild and care for flora and fauna.

    Crafter: Uses their creative power to change the lives of everybody.

    Example: Alchemist - Poisons his enemies and buffs his friends.

    Meta: Can be combined with all classes of all branches.

    Example: Pupil - Able to learn faster.

    A class could belong to one or several of the main branches.

    Example: Paladin - Warrior-Branch and Divine-Branch - Uses their divine powers to fight for their higher power.

    "You should get a ranger boyfriend," Eddie suggested.

    "Why? I don''t like relationships. They consist of disagreements and compromises." Of course, Flora had explained this to Eddie before. Several times.

    "Because the movie told us that they care for Flora."

    Eddie slapped his knee, laughing about his own joke, while Flora groaned.

    Manner of acquisition

    Basic classes: Can be acquired without any prerequisites.

    Example: Soldier - The military takes everyone.

    Quest classes: You have to complete a quest.

    Example: Pupil - Get the quest in the zone network of the Acadamy.

    Hurdle classes: You must have attributes/skills or abilities on a certain level.

    Example: Driver - Your ability ''driving'' has to be at least 10 OV.

    Advanced classes: You must have the precursor class.

    Example: Fire Sword: Only eligible for swordmasters or fire mages.

    Hidden classes: They are not registered in the zone network.

    Example: Analyst - Legacy drops from monsters.

    Apart from basic classes, the manner of acquisitions can be combined.

    Example: Combat Alchemist - Requirements: complete a quest, 25 LV Alchemy, Class Alchemist, and you have to find the master.

    You can combine classes if they have a relationship with each other.

    Combinatory ability

    Precursor class: Class that comes before a class.

    Example: Hunter - Precursor for Ranger.

    Successor class: Class that follows a class.

    Example: Drone Driver - Successor from Driver.

    Combination class: Class that has multiple precursor classes.

    Example: Paladin - Knight and Priest

    Umbrella class: Class that includes all classes of a specified kind. It can be acquired by getting the badges of at least five of the classes it contains.

    Example: Elemental Mage - Includes icy mage, fire mage, water mage, earth mage, wind mage, metal mage, lightning mage, wood mage.

    Champion class: All classes of a branch can be combined with this class.

    Example: Champion of the Shield Hall - this class can link to all Warrior classes.

    The combination of classes is called class-tree. As soon as you integrate a class into your class tree, it counts as ''active''.

    The class without a successor class forms the trunk of the tree. Your badge displays the trunk class.

    Pro-Tipp: Instead of linking a basic class, it is always possible to slot a successor instead.

    Example: Paladin - Precursor classes Priest and Knight - You can link Bishop, a successor of Priest, instead of Priest itself.

    "This is awesome! I planned to go just for the pirate class, but if I can combine classes, I can go for a much more complex built!"

    While Eddie was excited, Flora tried to make sense of the information dump.

    "Does this mean when I want to have robots like Clyde, Handy, and Forky, I have to have a tech-class?"

    "No, Milady. You can learn with very few exceptions every skill and ability you want in the Cetviwos. An active class gives you bonuses for the mana-skills of your class 125% and the mana-skills of the whole branch 110%."

    "Okay, but 125% is a bonus I don''t want to miss. So I need a class that is a combined class of the tech and the divine branch." Flora paused. "And the tech class must have a precursor which I can substitute with ... is it drone driver? Or what class has excellent support for robots?"

    "Robot Handler, Milady. The approach you described is possible, but it''s not the only way. You can also learn the paladin class, and get a successor class to knight that is a combined class. Or you could even substitute a precursor class of knight."

    "Great! I like mech-suits, and they are like knights armor, there sure is a class that combines them. Let''s make a list of skills I want to have supported by a class and then combine them all!"

    "You put the cart before the horse! That''s brilliant!" Eddie exclaimed.

    "Of course, I want my crafting to be top-notch. Therefore I need a class for mechanics, electronics, and design. I want strong robots and mech-suits. I want to do magic, as well. And I want pets, toaster pets preferably. I guess we already have them covered under robots, but we should keep an open mind about it. Give me all possible combinations."

    "Milady, my computational power is outstanding. But even I can''t calculate all possible solutions. Apart from that, there is no database of all classes because of hidden jobs. May I suggest we reduce the complexity by only combining classes of the current metagame or with positive user feedback?"

    "Sure, we start with this. What is metagame?"

    "The most popular and successful resources, in this case, classes, in a competitive environment."

    "Sheep follow the metagame. Shepherds establish the metagame." Eddie interjected.

    "Hipster! You don''t like it because Aidan said the word ''popular''."

    "True. But the metagame is fickle: one new patch throws everything into disarray. It''s better to concentrate on what you enjoy and what you are good at."

    "That makes sense. Aidan, please take my strengths and preferences into consideration as well."

    Aidan promised to report back when he had created a sufficient list.

    The movie continued with explaining the currencies and amenities of the Metaworld like what you have to do to change the location of your lair, transportation, trading, the auction house, the market place, shops, and hiring and finished with the quest system.

    Flora had speculated based on her results of the free-running quests that the variety of moves played a role in the rating. The movie confirmed this. Speed, creativity, efficiency, and quality contributed to the final rating.

    Finally, the movie was over, and Flora could turn in the Pupil quest.

    Quest: Ready to learn! - Metaworld

    Reward: Class Pupil.

    Difficulty: D

    Completion: A

    Class: Pupil

    Branch: Meta

    Passive:

    + 5 efficiency factor for training when receiving teaching

    Active:

    + 5 additional training-efficiency-modification for mana-skills of the branches of the class it is linked.

    + 5 additional training-efficiency-modification in quests issued by teachers or masters or training institutions.

    "I''m sorry, Milady. The information I gave you about the pupil-class was outdated. This description differs from the one I found in the bullet boards. Luckily it works to your advantage."

    Flora nodded and linked ''Pupil'' to the class ''Champion of the Goddess Evailyn''.

    Meanwhile, Eddie chatted with the receptionist again.

    "If you are not sure which classes are suiting you, you can take the Sweeping-Blow aptitude test." Flora overheard the receptionist speaking.

    Quest: Take the Sweeping-Blow aptitude test on the Cradle.

    Rewards:

    Bonus XP for all activities in the test

    Voucher for recommended classes

    Penalty: None.

    Difficulty: D.

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    Of course, Flora accepted the quest.

    "So, what are you up to now?" Eddie asked her.

    "Jiu-Jitsu advancement test, Wing Tsun class, free-running, a nap, and surviving an exploding moon," Flora said. "Would you teach me a few Jiu-Jitsu moves to win against newbies? The advancement test is a tournament."

    Eddie agreed, and they beamed to Flora''s lair.

    After they opened the door, Eddies gaped so hard that his jaw would have hit the floor if there were enough open space for it.

    "I thought the Doom Moon exploded in a scenario and not in your lair?"

    "I should add tidying up to my list for today." Flora mused, but was unenthusiastic about the prospect.

    "Let''s go to my lair. I have enough space to do some rolling."

    Eddie''s lair was located in a similarly depressing skyscraper like Flora''s.

    At least he had modified the interior. The room was not only triple the standard size but lighter and decorated with Flora''s fountain and greens.

    "I''d always admired the painting, and now I can have it 3D!" He explained to the happy Flora.

    A few minutes later, her happiness had vanished because she found herself in an arm-bar.

    "Again!"

    Eddie took her by the word and defeated her repeatedly with arm-bars.

    Fortunately, he wasn''t stingy with advice and showed her slowly the transitions that brought her into the predicament.

    Pumped up, Flora beamed to the Seven Masters Dojo.

    The advancement test didn''t include forms but was tournament only, but that didn''t faze Flora as much as that Teacher Clowdy administered the test.

    Flora one-trick-ponied herself in the second round and got then eliminated against someone who could defend against armbars.

    The loss didn''t matter to her because she qualified for the next Jiu-Jitsu course.

    Now, her sash spotted two buttons: a cyan one for Jiu-Jitsu and a yellow one for Wing Tsun. Both had one white stripe for completing the Beginner-1 course.

    After the Wing Tsun lesson, she beamed back to her lair.

    This time she let the door of the training-coffin open and adjusted it that it faced the whole room. Then she bound magical push to the auto-mode in the hope that she would tidy up the floor with it. Additionally, she added a belt to the back of the coffin to prevent herself from falling out of it when the vibrations started.

    In the workshop, she went straight into the jacuzzi.

    "Time to look at my notification! Aidan clear the level-up messages, I look directly at the stats-pages."

    The attributes looked the same as the last time, maybe one or two points higher.

    Flora thought back to what she had done in the past days since she had last checked: A lot of martial arts, a crafting workshop at the garage, the scenario, bit of free-running, and visiting the academy.

    She spent not much time in her mech-suit. While doing martial arts, she wore the Seven Masters Dojo uniform and at the scenario, the technician uniform. No wonder her attributes stagnated. She chuckled at the irony that what for other players probably counted as hart training netted her fewer stats than lying in the jacuzzi.

    She didn''t remember her former affinities, so she skipped over that part.

    When she reached the mana skills, her eyes widen in shock. Refresh, reached 97, and Magical Pull even reached level 100!

    "What happens when I reach level 100 in a skill?"

    She glanced a the rest. Of course, mechanics and electronics had excellent growth. Hand-to-hand combat looked good, as well. Both it and free-running surpassed level 25.

 32 32. Preparations

    "What happens when I reach level 100 in a skill?"

    "Level 100 is another milestone; its name is "third wind", Milady. You got an achievement for it while sleeping. It increased your affinity + 1 OV."

    "Please explain this milestone topic again, Aidan."

    "The first milestone is when an attribute, affinity, skill, or ability reaches level 25. Its called ''First Improvement'' and increases the LV of attributes and the OV of the rest by 10%."

    "Nice!"

    "The second milestone is called ''Second Luck'' and gives you a lucky chance of 20% to double an effect. For example, your regeneration ticks 20% of the time for the double value."

    "Lovely, I can imagine the effects on a spell and some attributes like resistance. But what about abilities like free-running or mechanics or attributes like dexterity? "

    "In free-running, it could be a sudden burst of speed. I''m sure that while you ground XP, there was more than a bit of luck involved. In crafting the rating of your work will rise."

    Flora nodded.

    "The third milestone is called ''Third wind''. When a pool value is depleted, and only 30% of its value remains, then the effectivity of the attribute is related to increases by 30% or even triples.

    Resistances and Affinities get stronger when your health-pool is low. Concerning the other stats, ''Third wind'' is related to the target of the spell or ability. A healing skill heals three times more when the target''s health is below 30% some spells do 30% more damage, and some triple the damage."

    "Wow, that''s harsh. Now I understand why stats are so important."

    "I read a guide that dissuaded from training mana-skills too soon above level 100 because the game gets too easy in the Tranches, that''s the level 5-100 server, and the player isn''t primed to play the Level 100+ worlds where the mobs have level 100 skills."

    "Hmm. I don''t believe in ''too easy''. Let''s raise Refresh above level 100 because three times more regeneration would help immensely with training and in survival situations. Warn me when another skill hits level 90, and we think about what to do then."

    "''Forth cross'' is the name of the next milestone. When an attribute hits the 200-mark, it gains 40% of corresponding attributes level value as modded LV and gives 40% of its value as MLV to it. For example, if physical power reaches 200, it gets 40% of your magical power and raises it by 80 LV."

    To Flora, that sounded like a lot! Only her physical regeneration had an LV above 80, and to get that many points for free was amazing!

    "It is unknown what happens with affinities after at forth cross. Nobody divulged it in the bulletin boards. Skills gain a special-effect 40% of the time, and abilities gain magical components."

    "Hmm, that could be useful or not. A bit too random for my taste. How can I imagine magical mechanics?"

    "Mechanics might be a wrong example for you. If I didn''t have access to your logs, I would have thought you already have 200 mechanics. Free running might be a better example. At 200, You can make jumps with 40% of the effect of your Power-Jump spell with paying a fraction of the mana or no mana at all. I believe Power-Jump is one of the skills integrating without using mana. I read conflictive comments."

    "Nice! That means it would bring my mechanics to the next level when I know all the spells of the book ''1000 household spells."

    "The next milestone is at 250. You can only level an affinity, skill, or ability to 250 if you fulfill some criteria or test. The milestone ''Ascencion'' changes the calculation of the OV.

    You can raise attributes to 250 without a hurdle. But starting from there each raise costs 2 level-up points.

    Many of the meta-builts for damage-dealers and healers include three 250 attributes and three 100 attributes or one 100 and one 200."

    "What about the containers?"

    "Pardon, what containers?"

    "The guys who contain the enemies. The word wasn''t masochist. That was just what I thought when Robby told me about them."

    "Do you mean tanks?"

    "Yes!"

    "Many go for the ''Fifth Flair'' with level 400 in physical vigor or defense. This milestone offers the ''Flair'' skill or variant. It increases the attribute MLV by five times for OV seconds and refills the associated pools."

    "My runtime memory is overflowing. I need to process all the information of today. And maybe take a nap. Oh! I can take a nap in the jacuzzi! I wouldn''t dare this in reality, but here: no problem."

    Flora donned the potion guzzler, raised the heat, and leaned back. Sometimes she mulled over the information, sometimes she let Aidan playback or clarify a specific part, and sometimes she just played with the water, meditated, or revolved her mana. Slowly, she digested the last few days.

    After two hours, Flora woke up because she felt uncomfortable.

    "Milady, I put the toxic plates as far back as possible, but it is getting hard to hold you alive."

    Groggily, she checked her debuffs and immediately left the water.

    Hyperthermia: 3 x ~1 dmg per second. Time remaining: 25 sec.

    Toxic-Aura: 3 x ~ 5 hp per minute. Time remaining: 25 sec.

    Radioactive-Aura: 3 x ~ 5 hp per minute. Time remaining: 25 sec.

    Metal Handicap: 14 OV - Effective: 0 OV.

    The heat had colored her skin red, and it was itching.

    Flora refused to scratch. Instead, she sat down and meditated until the Hyperthermia debuff had run its course.

    After she turned down the heat of the jacuzzi and refilled the nearly depleted health-potions in the potions guzzler helmet, she was ready to prepare for the Doom Moon scenario. And of course, to hop back into the tub.

    "First, we have to think about how we can keep Jake alive." Flora started. "If he weren''t so drunk, he wouldn''t have puked. And we would have made better time to shrine. That means more time to explore.

    Next, we have to find a way to flee from the exploding moon or stop it from exploding.

    I don''t know if I prefer the second option. We don''t know anything about the capabilities of the Doom Moon. Can it move through space? Has it a planet-destroying mega laser? Or is it just a defensive installation like Jake claimed? Are you making a list, dear?"

    "No, Milady."

    "Start making one. No, several. One with the preparation we need before, one with what to do when playing the scenario."

    Prep before start

    Todo During

    - Dinner scene: Get political info and info about the Doom Moon: history, capabilities.

    - Party scene: Stop Jake from getting drunk

    "You asked me to remind you to send a letter to the union to complain about the work conditions, Milady. When should we schedule this?"

    Flora laughed.

    "We skip it; I''m sure it''s futile. Back to the escape. How far was the hanger away from the quest location?"

    "300 meters, but two security gates in between."

    "How can we get past them? Explosives? Plasma swords? Can we get the codes somewhere?"

    "They have two different kinds of locks: for the regular lock, you have the code on your datapad, and in emergency mode, only someone with higher clearance can open them. This mode got activated when the hull breach happened. Then, hacking might be the fasted way to open the door."

    "You can hack, right?"

    "Yes, Milady. But I need an electric lock-pick. My current hacking is level 14. I should train it up to at least level 25. If you joined me in hacking, the time would go down, as well."

    Prep before start

    - Get two lock-picks for hacking

    - Learn to hack

    - Get something to train hacking

    "So, let''s say we need 30 sec to open one, that''s 60 sec for two. That''s optimistic! 2 minutes for passing the corridor. That leaves us with 3 minutes for the hangar. Do you know if there are any vessels left? And if we can fly them."

    "I know nothing of the deployments of the ships, Milady. But flying small crafts is a skill that can be learned in the Metaworld."

    "Alright, sounds like a plan for the next try. The alternative for flying away is saving the whole moon. In the movies, a simple, sturdy door between the core and the planes would have done the job. First, we have to find out if the Doom Moon exploded because of the same issue."

    Flora went over the scenario in her head again to check if she had forgotten anything.

    "The spells! Please give me a list of spells that I can use during the scenario."

    "Telekinesis, Magical Push, Magical Pull, Use Built-In Skill, Summon the God, In the name of the God, Rise to the occasion, and Magical Drill."

    "Interesting that Use Built-In Skill is part of the list. I can work with that."

    Prep before start

    - Get two lock-picks for hacking

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    - Learn to hack

    - Get something to train hacking

    - Learn to fly

    - Get a space capable mech suit

    Todo During

    - Dinner scene: Get political overview and info about the Doom Moon: history, capabilities.

    - Party scene: Stop Jake from getting drunk

    - Oh shit scene: Find out why the Doom Moon exploded

    Next, Flora watched a video about hacking in the Cetviwos games.

    Her face fell. First, you had to buy or write scripts in a language called BreaTress. While hacking, you had to load them in the right moment or type commands to react to the behavior of the firewall.

    Of course, Flora knew how to code. She wrote a few macros to ease the design process, but admittingly that was years ago. Her skills were rusty, and she never enjoyed it as much as other aspects of her work.

    To make matters worse, she had shared an office with an excellent programmer and exploited the situation.

    Fortunately, the video continued to explain that another modus was available: The BreaTress-Minigame.

    Flora watched defenders standing on a fortress wall and shooting down on a horde of attacking orcs. The graphics looked like an old-timey video game, which made Flora smile.

    Beyond doubt, Flora knew even less about medieval warfare than software development, but she was more motivated to learn about it.

    The marketplace was bursting with scripts. Aidan advised her to buy a package, to ensure compatibility, with at least a defender and a ranged attacker. Immediately, Flora narrowed the search to S-rated Tier-1, which still left hundreds.

    She read the description of several. The programs had, how could it be any different in this world, stats. Flora didn''t care about them. Instead, she looked at the animation.

    "Dinosaurs? No. Humans? Boring. Orcs? No. Soldiers? Yawn. Knights? No." Most of the animations were the same medieval humans. Probably, the developers weren''t bothered to change the standard animation.

    Finally, Flora sorted by price and looked at the cheapest S-rated script.

    With wide eyes, she stared at the figures. All wore polka-dotted hats, shirts with flower prints, and plaid-trousers in the most horrendous color combinations.

    This was exactly like her old IT-colleague used to dress! Because she was colorblind, she didn''t care about them, but she loved to mix patterns. Once, she explained to Flora that this was her way to make the grey world more enjoyable.

    Flora took it as a good omen and bought the whole package with five scripts for 337 VirDos.

    Two A-rated tier-2 lock-pics and an S-rated tier-1 puzzle landed in her shopping basket, and she was another 1256 VirDos poorer.

    When Flora exited the room, she was surprised how much neater it looked. Sure, she still had to hop over a few bars and plastic parts, but no advanced acrobatic act was needed to reach the mailbox.

    On her way back, she loaded the scripts in the lock-picks and connected them, the puzzle, Aidan, and herself.

    Aidan was sure that he could switch between letting her cast spells and automatic-mode hacking.

    Back at her workshop, she just wanted to take a quick look if she could modify the skins of the scripts to tone down the colors a bit.

    One hour later, the clothes of her mini-army had still the same colors, but the standard weapons had changed.

    Flora replaced the shield by a lid of a large pan, the slingshot by a toaster shooting toasts, the bow by an even bigger toaster, shooting bread in shuriken form, and the swords by an electric egg beater.

    With a bit of regret and a lot of satisfaction, she looked over her work.

    ''I got sidetracked, but it was worth it!''

    Next, she tackled multiple issues at once.

    ''Lair needs to be tidied up, and I need more booty ... bounty? Loot? Treasure? There was a piracy themed term for it.''

    Flora constructed a 3x3x3 lightweight but sturdy frame and added a solid floor and ceiling. The real work of art went into creating the doors.

    They folded up in grapplers and legs.

    Flora was tempted to construct the walls in that way too, but she was battling in holding the mana usage as low as possible, so she refrained from it.

    The finished container could transform its four doors into stumps that bend down. Flora tested the movement with different weights in the box. You could call it walking, but crawling might the more apt description. Flora did not want to ride it. Seasickness could be a side effect.

    When the container sat down, it could use the doors/legs as grapplers and shovel items into the box.

    Name: Hungry Chest

    Type: Hybrid: Vehicle/Container/Excavator

    Vehicle-Mode: 7 OV mana-regeneration

    Rating: C

    Excavator-Mode: 5 OV mana-regeneration

    Rating: A

    Chest-Mode: 0 OV mana-regeneration

    Rating: A

    Tier: 0

    Hybrid-Rating: S

    Flora checked the time. It was already evening, and the Doom Moon scenario took five hours.

    She decided to spend the rest of the day with crafting and leveling hacking, interjected with completing the rest of her dailies.

    After she finished the quests at Tricky Beach and the Garage, she visited the Clan Riverstones.

    She printed the Hungry Chest so that it could work through the night. Furthermore, she produced training gear and sent it to Eddie together with a user manual created by Aidan.

    ''Not to write those damn things myself! What bliss!''

    This reminded her that she hadn''t told Robby about the training-coffin. Initially, she wanted to surprise him with her excellent stats, but now she thought it was more important, allowing her baby boy to train while asleep. Therefore she sent him the manual, a link to the design, and authorized him to print it.

 33 33. Doom Moon Second Attemp

    Yesterday had been productive, and Flora was still in a good mood in the morning.

    When she exited the workshop, her flat was neat and tidy again.

    Satisfied, she looked around. Only the parts too small for getting picked up by the Hungry Chest were left.

    For cleaning up the rest, Flora learned a new spell variant. Its base was Magic Pull, but that spell was optimized for out of combat use and targeted a wider area with multiple objects. The mana scaled with the weight of the pulled items, so it synergized well with the Hungry Chest.

    She pocketed the container and beamed to the 3D-printer.

    To feed the printer with materials, you had to dump them into the 4x4x4 area where the printing took place.

    The process operated precisely reverse to the printing. The Lasers took away layer after layer of the material. To Flora, it looked like the junk got deleted by a laser eraser.

    ''Fascinating, but spooky. What would happen to a living being?''

    When she put the Hungry Chest back into her inventory, she saw the other three containers. She hadn''t looked into them yet, mainly because there had been no place to put them with her floor occupied by trash.

    With trepidation, she opened her first treasure chest. She hoped that her camping equipment, page-turner, and other stuff had survived the explosion.

    Frozen, she stared at the densely packed content.

    The statues had survived the explosion! Earlier, Flora had noticed with entertainment that the blast had disassembled the crafted items neatly into their parts. She hypothesized that because the sculptures were carved out of solid stone, the destroy-algorithm didn''t work on them.

    Finding components of the plasma swords on the bottom of the container confirmed the thought.

    She carefully touched one of the statues.

    Lady Mnoder versus Trara Sampetime - Mannequin-Routine

    "I will kill you!" A blond young woman with wild hair screamed and brandished her plasma sword.

    "No, I will kill you!" Lady Mnoder giggled.

    Based on the voice, Flora guessed that Lady Mnoder was substantially younger. Flora even caught the motion of brandishing the plasma sword. It was still incredibly smooth, but in the other routine, and when she met the Lady, the sword had practically teleported into her hand.

    Trara raised the sword above her head and charged at Mnoder. Gracefully, Mnoder sidestepped the chop and lashed out with her saber. The girl ducked under it and rose up with a stab.

    Flora felt the body bending and weaving. It reminded her more of dancing or maybe even dodgeball than fighting.

    Now, Flora realized that the blades never met. She rummaged through her rusty physics knowledge to come up with what would happen when two plasma streams intersected. One thing she was sure of: parrying was out of the question.

    At last, Mnoder managed to cut deep into the leg of her opponent. Trara went down and stared with hate-filled teary eyes on Flora.

    "Alright, I win!" Mnoder exclaimed cheerfully. "Please feel like I killed you and go on with your life."

    She turned around and walked away.

    "I will get a new leg, and I will hunt you down!" She heard the girl yell.

    "Sorry, I don''t have time for this." Mnoder came back and beheaded Trara.

    The routine ended, and Flora raised her eyebrows.

    In the real world, having a collection of heads, you cut off yourself, looked very bad. It would lead to a stay in a room with barred windows and probably padded walls.

    But in a fantasy game world?

    ''What would I do if someone came relentlessly after me, would stop for nothing to kill me, and the world had no restraining orders or policing?''

    Flora watched the rest of the routines.

    They didn''t clear up her doubts. Lady Mnoder sure said her fair share of cheesy villain monologues, but her opponents weren''t that different. No routine showed her torturing someone. At the opposite, she gave some of her enemies outs to survive. Alright, it was more in the spirit of "join me or die", but still...

    Flora decided to ignore the Lady. Her goal was to survive with as many civilians as possible and not to make moral judgments.

    Next, she replaced the tier 0 materials in the Hungry Chest and her new mech-suit with the tier 1 doom moon materials and printed them out.

    Yesterday, she had bought an S-rated design for a space-ready mech-suit. She colored it solid green. Furthermore, she fashioned a removable skirt to add a bit of modesty to the skin-tight outfit.

    Name: Sleek Assassin

    Modification: Ivy League

    Type: Mech-suit

    Built-In Feature: Sprint. 30 sec CD.

    Built-In Feature: Assisted Stab. 30 sec CD.

    Built-in Skill: Rocket-Boots. 3 mana per burst.

    Effects:

    + 150% OV physical power

    100 HP

    30 min survival without air

    Tier: 1

    Rating: S

    For getting accustomed to the new suit, she ported to Trick Beach and did the daily quest.

    Where Counter-Flow hindered her movements, Ivy League supported them. Flora reveled in the feeling of power and freedom.

    Because of her continuously changing stats and outfits, she acclimated fast.

    As the final test, she did the weekly free-running quest.

    Weekly quest ''Roof Parkour'':

    Complete the Roof Parkour.

    Rewards: Reputation, Trick Beach-Voucher

    Difficulty: C

    Completion: B

    Back in her lair, she checked the list for the scenario.

    Get two lock-picks for hacking: Check!

    Learn to hack: Check!

    Get something to train hacking: Check!

    Learn to fly: She had watched an experio and a tutorial. That was enough to give her the ability Piloting: Planes.

    Get a space-capable mech-suit: Check!

    "I''m ready for round two!"

    Aidan to Flora:" Mission: Get political overview and info about the Doom Moon."

    "Open the hangars. Here, the H-Fighter comes!" Jake coaxed his daughter by waving a spoon filled with mash.

    Flora to Aidan: "Oh, no! I forgot to load Robby''s pictures out of the cloud! Aidan, remind me for the next attempt!"

    "The pay is excellent, the forepeople are okay, and we can work on the hugest project ever! Alright, the higher-ups are a bit on the stiff side, but I practically never encountered them." Jake showed off his dimples as he grinned at her.

    "You forgot to mention the terrorists! I am frightened by them. They proclaimed that they want to destroy the moon before it is finished."

    Elena said.

    Flora couldn''t look her into the eyes. ''I''m sorry. I failed to bring your husband home. I''ll try harder this time.''

    "I''m not up to date with the terrorist situation. Could you tell me about their goals?"

    "What is there to explain? They are anarchists and want to destroy everything we hold dear!" Elena snapped.

    "Elena''s uncle was killed in the uprising on Xenysia." Jake took his wife''s hand and caressed it. "Auntie Flow didn''t know about it."

    "I''m sorry. I''m out of touch."

    "No, no. I''m sorry for overreacting."

    This wasn''t going well.

    "So how can the Doom Moon help us?" Flora gave it another go.

    "Not only has it all the weaponry of a big destroyer, but it also contains a superweapon." Jake began to whisper. "You don''t have it from me, but it will be possible to smash whole strongholds with it."

    "But not whole planets, right?"

    "The Energy forbid for such a weapon to exist!" Elena exclaimed, but Jake looked unsure.

    "I haven''t thought about that, but those terrorist strongholds are pretty sturdy, it might actually be easier to destroy the planet''s crust than them."

    "So, the Doom Moon will fly to the terrorists'' planet and bomb them? Can it travel through hyperspace?"

    "I spoke with one of the engine technicians, and he said they are working their asses off to make it happen, but heat management is a beach."

    "So how many strongholds do they have?"

    Jake shrugged.

    "I just thought it might be easier to produce a few tons of drones and drop them than one big moon. The Doom Moon has practically a target painted on its back."

    Elena nodded.

    "What do we grunts know about politics and warfare?" Jake shrugged again.

    "You said it! Can you show me around in your apartment and the neighborhood?"

    Flora wanted to see with her own eyes in what conditions the people in the Empire lived.

    Jake and Elena''s flat was cozy and neat. Hope''s space had a lot of colorful toys, and the kitchen had an adequate amount of utensils. Nothing was in disrepair.

    The apartment building was a few stories high and surrounded by similar structures with a bit of lawn and a few trees between them. They met other young families and saw older people sitting on park benches.

    Elena pointed out the playground and the shopping center.

    No signs of drug use on the playground and no homeless in front of the mall. Everything seemed perfectly fine. The people appeared to be content and active.

    Flora didn''t know what to make of it.

    Hope played with a stuffed ape and gurgled happily until her toy fell out of the stroller.

    Suddenly, Elena gripped her arm and turned her around with unexpected strength.

    "The Icemasters want to destroy this." Elena pointed at a teenage couple making out. "They abhor human feelings and humanity itself."

    Flora felt the familiar feeling of Magical Pull being cast behind her.

    ''Interesting. Little Hope fetched her toy. Even more interesting: Elena knew it would happen.''

    "What are icemasters?" Flora asked, but she had an inkling.

    "Wow, Auntie! You should read the news more often!" Jake interjected.

    "We have energymasters who get their power from emotions; the ice-masters are the energy-users of the terrorists. They suppress all their feelings. They are even forbidden to fall in love."

    Flora was deep in thought. The couple chatted more about their daily life, and finally, Jake asked the question, if Flora wanted to join him working on the Doom Moon.

    "I agree."

    The scene changed to the airport and then to the forewomen giving her the equipment. This time, Flora demanded two multitools from the getgo.

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    Quest completed: Enlist as a technician on the Doom Moon

    Difficulty: E

    Completion: B

    "What has been the completion-rating on the first attempt, Aidan?"

    "D, Milady."

    "Hmm, interesting."

    Clive, Handy, and Forky joined her again, and they started the first repair.

    "Let''s hack into the Doom Moon network. I want the blueprints of the moon, and I want to know if we can track Jake."

    The first firewall and scripts fell quickly under the onslaught of the egg-beaters and toaster shurikens.

    Flora had now access to the planning data for the deployment and blueprints for conventional equipment like small vehicles and planes, bots and turrets, and facilities like ventilation and plumbing. Aidan downloaded the information.

    The next firewall was harder to conquer. Aidan and Flora were victorious, but some of the opposing side''s scripts survived.

    "Milady, we were discovered!"

    "Can they get our location?"

    "Yes, Milady, and they know that the attack came from your datapad."

    "Download everything you can, as fast as possible!"

    "What to do? Pretend to have lost the datapad or destroy it? Impossible, my last action was scanning the turrets. Nobody would believe me. Flee and hide?" Flora looked at the three robots. They were still busy repairing the turret.

    "Hey guys, would you notice someone standing right next to you hacking into the Doom Moon network? Purely hypothetical, of course."

    Handy and Forky said no.

    "Of course, and I would as well notice if a squat of five soldiers is one minute away from storming into this room. Purely hypothetical, of course." Clyde answered cheerfully.

    Flora remembered that she read in the robot user manual that her little friends were unable to lie and could be tracked via there network access.

    So she bid them farewell, threw away the jacks and the datapad, and opened the next ventilation shaft.

    After crawling through the tunnels, she dropped everything she got from the Doom Moon but the multitool and changed into her mech-suit.

    "Is the multitool save, Aidan?"

    "According to the specs, yes, Milady."

    While crawling, Aidan updated her on his booty behind the second firewall. He didn''t find out the specs of the secret weapon, but its location. It was at the center of the moon, and a shaft, wide enough for a fighter-jet, reached from it to the surface.

    "Show me the way to the hangar." Flora smiled wrily. "When your reputation is ruined, you can do as you please: we are going to borrow a jet and take a look."

    Quest: Repair Turret S24R91N85 on the Doom Moon

    Penalty: Degradation to fugitive

    Difficulty: C

    Completion: Failed.

    Quest: Survive on the Doom Moon

    Rewards: Bonus XP for relevant abilities

    Time Limit: 3 h.

    Penalty: Death

    Difficulty: B

 34 34. Doom Moon 2 - The Sewers

    Quest: Survive on the Doom Moon

    Rewards: Bonus XP for relevant abilities

    Time Limit: 3 h.

    Penalty: Death

    Difficulty: B

    Flora changed from the narrow clean tubes of the ventilation system to the spacy dirty tunnels of the sewers.

    Thankfully her new mech-suit was air- and watertight.

    Now, she picked up speed, vaulting over pipes and jumping over drains of excrement.

    Only when she arrived at the hangar, she went back to the ventilation shafts for a better view.

    Rows of fighter jets lined the walls of the hangar. In between, bigger spacecraft in various shapes parked.

    Now and then, pilots operated the jets and flew off, and new planes arrived. Technicians and bots scurried between the vehicles.

    Even though Flora could see the open space from her position, none of the humans wore spacesuits or goldfish-bowls.

    "My technician''s uniform would now be useful," Flora remarked regretfully. She had dumped it because it had tracking chips installed. "On the other hand, it might be suspicious if a technician borrowed a fighter jet to take a spin. Do you think I can pretend to be an energy-master?"

    "The natives can read badges as well, Milady."

    "Then they see my name! That makes all attempts at pretending to be someone different futile! They probably released a search warrant for me."

    "You could switch from nick-name to real name, Milady."

    "That still leaves the problem with the class on the badge. I believe there is a way to get a class when you have all of the standard skills of it. What are the standard skills of energy-master?"

    "Single target attack: Energy-Choke.

    Area of effect attack: Energy-Storm.

    Defensive skill: Force-Field.

    Movement skill: Energy-Jump.

    Signature skill: Plasma-Sword-Dance.

    You only need four skills to obtain a class.

    But its an advanced class. You need kinetic mage or swordmaster first.

    Kinetic Mage:

    Single target attack: Kinetic Blast.

    Area of effect attack: Kinetic Storm.

    Defensive skill: Kinetic Shield.

    Movement skill: Kinetic Stride.

    Signature Skill: Telekinetics.

    Magical Push and Pull might count towards the spells needed for obtaining the class.

    Swordmaster:

    Single target attack: Power Slash.

    Area of effect attack: Sweep.

    Defensive skill: Parry Flurry.

    Movement skill: Sword Charge."

    "Oh, dear. I believe I can correlate some of the skills to mannequin-routines. I''ve felt Mnoder cast them. Let''s give reverse engineering kinetic Blast and Energy-Choke a try. Because she cast them on me, I have a good grasp of the spells. If I can''t reconstruct them, then the others are beyond me as well."

    Flora went back to the sewers and found an intersection big enough to pull the treasure chest with the mannequin routines from her inventory.

    "Aidan, remind me to build a smaller chest for narrow tunnels with a few essentials. Prio C."

    After a few tries, Flora found an m-route in which Mnoder cast Kinetic Blast.

    The spell felt similar to Magical Push. The difference was that you cast push directly on the subject or object you wanted to push, while Kinetic Blast, propelled the energy from the caster in the direction of the object.

    At Flora''s first attempt, the energy fizzled out before it hit the target, her sleeping bag. She focussed on concentrating the blast, and the second try was successful.

    You gained the skill: Kinetic Blast.

    You learned the skill without guidance: + 1 OV to the skill.

    "That was too easy," Flora said, dumbfounded. "Next!"

    Again, Flora watched the m-route for the spell.

    This time, she had problems squeezing her sleeping bag evenly. When she increased the pressure on one side, the bag rolled away because she was too slow to counter-push it on the other side.

    "Aidan, is there a spell for squeezing fruits in the household book?"

    Aidan taught it to her.

    You gained the skill: Magical Squeeze.

    Adjusting the spell with the more martial feeling she got from the m-route, Flora succeeded in learning Energy-Choke.

    You gained the skill: Energy-Choke.

    You learned the skill without guidance: + 1 OV to the skill.

    Next, Flora tried kinetic Storm. There was a routine where Mnoder cast an area effect, but Flora couldn''t distinguish if it were Kinetic Storm or Energy Storm. It looked like distortions in the time-space continuum. Flora couldn''t wrap her head around it and decided to skip it for now.

    The difference between Kinetic Shield and Force Field wasn''t evident, as well. At least Mnoderer cast the shield multiple times, so Flora had enough examples to get a grip on the spell.

    You gained the skill: Force-Field.

    You learned the skill without guidance: + 1 OV to the skill.

    Lady Mnoder did some nice stunts with it. She could deflect blaster shots, and when she coated her plasma sword with the spell, she could even parry.

    The next spell on the list was Kinetic Stride. The theory behind it was easy, just augment your walk with extra energy.

    Flora tried first to push herself telekinetically then to pull herself to a destination. The first approach felt like a bully shoved her from behind. The second was similar to her experience on the Trail of Worlds. It felt like the bully tugged her by the umbilical cord to him.

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    After a few attempts, she found the right balance.

    You gained the skill: Kinetic Stride.

    You learned the skill without guidance: + 1 OV to the skill.

    -----------

    You gained the class: Kinetic Mage.

    Class: Kinetic Mage

    Branch: Magic

    Passive: +1 Training efficiency modifier for resistance/affinity psychokinetic

    Active: Bonus for psychokinetic Spells

    -----------

    You gained an Achievement: ''I''m my own teacher'': You gained a class by teaching yourself at least three of the required spells.

    Reward: Trait: ''Fast Learner'': +1 Training efficiency modifier

    -----------

    You gained the skill: Kinetic Storm.

    You gained the skill: Kinetic Shield.

    -----------

    Flora smiled. She enjoyed figuring out the spells. It was a bit like engineering. First, define the generall function, make it work, and then smooth the design out.

    Next, she performed another movement skill, the Energy-Jump. Instead of using magic to move horizontally, she moved vertically.

    She felt that a spell was working, and her mana sank, but the wrong success message came.

    -----------

    You successfully fused two skills: Kinetic Stride and Power-Jump.

    + 5 LV to both skills

    + 1 LV to psychokinetics

    + 1 LV to power enhancements

    -----------

    After rewatching the m-routes with the Energy-Jump, she noticed that when Mnoderer landed, some kind of discharge happened. Electricity?

    A glance at her skill tab confirmed that the other energymaster spells had a lightning component. Force-Field even belonged to three categories: psychokinetic, lightning, and magnetism.

    You could look at the spell diagram in this tab, as well. Flora had used this notation to learn from the book ''1000 homemaker spells''.

    Comparing the pictures of Kinetic Blast, Kinetic Stride, Energy-Choke, and Energy-Field, she identified which shapes belonged to kinetics, lightning, and magnetism.

    Next, she compared Kinetic Stride and Power-Jump to determine the movement aspect.

    Hypothesises and questions whirled through her mind and the vague shape of a diagram formed.

    Concentrating on the geometrical shapes and simultaneously the feeling of the spell, she jumped again.

    -----------

    You gained the skill: Energy-Jump.

    You learned the skill without guidance: + 1 OV to the skill.

    -----------

    "What is missing for the energy-master class?"

    "Energy-Storm or Plasma-Sword-Dance, Milady."

    "I''ve seen Mnoder use her plasma sword like a boomerang. That felt like a skill, too."

    "Yes, Milady. It might be an additional tier-1 skill, but I''ve seen no record of it. The range of the other spells is short to medium, so the built would profit from a skill with a higher range."

    Flora scavenged the floor of the treasure chest for plasma sword parts. First, she sorted them. Then she started to puzzle.

    Aidan confirmed that she put six plasma swords into the container. That should be enough parts to build at least one functioning sword. It would be nice if there were six of everything or a number which could be divided by six, but nothing was ever so easy.

    It got even harder after she destroyed the most promising set in an explosion. Immediately, Flora wrapped up. The blast wasn''t the main problem, but the parts hitting the sheeting of the container had sounded like gunfire.

    Out of the dark canal, a shadow rushed towards Flora. All she saw was a long mouth full of teeth.

    "A flying denture?"

    In her imagination played a movie: out of Emperor Palpatine''s mouth fell a set of artificial teeth, landed in the sewers, and mutated.

    The thing bit into her tights. The sturdy tier-1 material made a crunchy noise under the onslaught of the teeth.

    She yelped but got a look at the creature. It was colored in a muddy brown and had a long crocodile snout and tail but missed the middle part. Its eyes were dark slits, and greenish fins or wings protruded behind them out of the snakelike body.

    Flora''s mind was busy inventing names for it, while her body remained frozen.

    ''Croco-Fly-Fish? Toothy flying Snake? I want alliteration! Flying Froco-Feeth-Fetish-Fish!''

    "Milady! Attack!"

    "Oh, yes, right!"

    Flora smashed her fist on the eyes of the FFFFF.

    It let go of her tight while slamming its tail into Flora''s shoulder. That catapulted the head away from her in a backflip like motion.

    From a free-runner''s perspective, Flora admired the maneuver.

    It turned smoothly in the air. With its fins fanned out and mouth wide open, it charged at Flora again.

    !

    The spell hit, and the FFFFF tumbled through the air. Shorty in front of the wall, it straightened its flight path and turned around for another charge.

    !

    Now, it hit the wall and slid down into the water.

    "Is it dead?"

    "Unlikely, Milady."

    Flora eyed the dark patch of foul water, her hand raised, ready to cast another blast.

    Suddenly, the thing shot from the canal to Flora''s right.

    Although Flora yelped again, she shot the second Kinetik Blast in its direction.

    "Excellent shot, Milady. It should be dead."

    Flora glanced above her, where the access door to the corridors was and started running. It was still closed, but Flora was sure that the yelling hadn''t helped her to stay inconspicuous.

    "Thank you, dear. Lead me to the next hangar in the direction of the superweapon. How long until the attack is going to start? And how far away are the hanger and the shaft of the weapon?"

    "36 minutes until the attack, Milady. 6 km to the next hangar. 264 km to the main tunnel of the superweapon."

    "Change of plans. We risk staying here. Lead me to an intersection, which is big enough for the container."

    Flora assembled the next plasma sword.

    ''You always worked best under pressure. Concentrate!''

    Her hands stayed steady even while making risky connections between the source of gas and the ignition.

    She took a deep breath and activated the sword. First, it spluttered, but then a steady, albeit short blade of green flames formed.

    Next, Flora revisited the m-route in which Mnoder performed the sword dance. Thankfully, Wing Tsun had trained her memory for martial art forms.

    Soon Flora could perform it passably well, but no notification appeared.

    Flora took a moment to ponder it and revisited the mannequin-routine.

    ''Mnoderer uses magic to enhance the form!''

    It was very subtle and in the rhythm of her breathing.

    After emulating it, Flora still got no message, but she got the next idea.

    ''Maybe, I need the sword ability? That would conform to the fact that swordmaster is one of the precursors.''

    "We need one of the FFFFF, Aidan!"

    "Pardon, Milady?"

    "The froco-foothy-fish-flying-fnakes ... whatever. The thing we killed a few minutes ago. Or another way to get the sword-combat ability."

    "There are two kingators in the waters surrounding us. I believe they get attracted by plasma swords."

    "And when would you have told me about them?" Flora snapped.

    Her speech was cut short by a shadow that rushed her out of the water. Wildly, she swang her sword on it, and it went cleanly through the kingator. But the beast showed nothing of it and bit into her tight.

    ''Do they like limbs the most? Or is my tight especially juicy?''

    "When you would have asked, Milady. Should I notify you about near hostile creatures in the future?"

    "Yes, please!"

    She continued slashing at the kingator, and discolored welts started to appear on its hide.

    The tail rose to lash at her shoulder, but now Flora knew the maneuver. She blasted the beast across the intersection.

    "Dead?"

    "Not likely, Milady."

    "How can you judge?"

    "I have access to your combat log and see how much damage you dished out. I don''t know about its health pool or defenses, so I can only estimate. It should have around 20 health left."

    The water-surface broke, and white teeth aimed for her tights again.

    This time, Flora sidestepped and brought her sword down.

    "And now?"

    Using the plasma sword was frustrating because Flora didn''t feel any resistance, just a slight vibration when slicing her enemies. A part of her doubted that the sword had any effect at all.

    The beast turned in the air and rushed at her again.

    "95 health approximately."

    Unconsciously, Flora moved according to the Plasma-Sword-Dance to the right and pivoted to slash the kingator. Her sword sliced through the back of its head.

    "78 health approximately."

    "Did it heal, or is it the second kingator?"

    "Most likely, the second one."

    Warily, Flora watched the beast as it turned around again. She didn''t dare to move her eyes away to look for the other, but she risked focussing on her health bar for a second. It was more than 4/5 full that alleviated some of the pressure Flora felt.

    The Kingator came at her again, and Flora managed to dodge and hit it again.

    ----------

    Do you want to form the ability specialization ''Plasma-Sword-Fighting''?

    ----------

    ''Yes!''

    ----------

    You gained the ability specialization: Plasma-Sword-Fighting + 2 levels.

    ----------

    Suddenly, another kingator shot towards Flora.

    ''Let''s try this sword-dance again!''

    Mana flowed from her hands into her sword. The flame flared, and the length of the blade nearly doubled.

    She whirled towards her left and sliced through it. This time, the smell of burned chicken permeated the air, and the beast hit the ground, toasted.

    Flora felt a threat behind her. Smoothly, she completed a full turn and slashed at the second kingator, who had aimed at her unprotected back.

    The sword glided through the kingator, and Flora used the momentum to perform a butterfly kick: her arms swang to ground, her right leg catapulted her in the air, then her left leg kicked nearly horizontally the fish. Then the right leg followed hitting the kingator.

    The beast slid across the ground. When the movement stopped, it remained motionless.

    ----------

    You gained the skill: Plasma-Sword-Dance.

    You learned the skill without guidance: + 1 OV to the skill.

    -----------

    You gained the class: Energymaster.

    Class: Kinetic Energymaster

    Branch: Magic

    Passive:

    +1 Training efficiency modifier for resistance/affinity psychokinetic

    +1 Training efficiency modifier for resistance/affinity lightning

    +1 Training efficiency modifier for ability plasma swords

    Active:

    Bonus for psychokinetic Skills

    Bonus for lightning Skills

    Bonus for Plasma-Sword-Fighting

    -----------

    You gained the skill: Energy-Storm.

    -----------

    A big grin split Flora''s face. Not only did she gain the class, but she performed the butterfly-kick! She worked the last free-running session on this trick. She hadn''t anticipated to use it in a fight, but it worked well.

    Hurridly, she threw everything, including the corpses of the kingators in the treasure chest, and cleaned her mech-suit with the remains of her badly mangled sleeping bag.

    Looking at the bite marks on her tights, she shook her head with doubt. ''I''m not eager to test the suit in space if it is still air-tight.''

    After she put everything in her inventory, she discovered two glowing piles on the floor.

    Cautiously, she poked one with her boot. The glowing stopped, and she identified five kingator teeth. The other pile contained four of them.

    "Are they safe to collect, Aidan?"

    "Yes, Milady. The combat log showed no poison application."

    Shrugging, Flora put them in her inventory and climbed up the ladder to the exit.

    While changing the badge and her class to energymaster, she muttered: "The world belongs to me, and I''m perfectly at home."

    She might not be able to pretend to be an energymaster, but she was such a master in feigning confidence that at some point in the past, it had become real.

 35 35. Doom Moon 2 - Energymaster Flora

    Devon Saneth enjoyed playing pool and drinking beer. He liked his job as a flight coordinator on the Doom Moon well enough, and the pool tables in the common room for the hangar crew weren''t half bad.

    His day started terribly and got worse when his mother called him and told him to be safe because her astrologist warned her against great peril.

    Of course, he didn''t give a half a bucket used motor oil for the opinions of a quack, but the warning lingered in that part of his mind that mothers filled with useful advice from an early age, like don''t touch hot ovens and don''t put your fingers in a meat grinder.

    He felt her approaching before he saw her. His head turned instinctively to the figure covering the distance with steady steps. Her stride was confident and graceful. She looked liked she owned that place. From head to foot, she was covered in a green mech suit that had seen better days, but she wore it like it was a diamond garb. Through the green-tinged visor, he spotted the gently smiling face of an older lady.

    But his eyes focussed on her belt where the hilt of a plasma sword hung. Then, they immediately flitted to her badge.

    Name: Flora Fluss

    Title: Magical Prodigy

    Class: Energymaster

    Level: 1

    Rating: F

    ''Level 1, my ass! Unrated, my ass!''

    Devon heard of multiple ways to fake one''s badge, but his mind went to the old myth that when you reached level 1000, you ascended and started a new.

    He shook his head to clear his thoughts.

    ''Keep your cool. There are hundreds of people in this hangar. What are the odds that she will visit you? Please, dear guardians of the energy, don''t let her have any business with me.''

    His prayers went unanswered. The lady approached his booth.

    Devon sprang off his chair.

    "Magical Prodigy Fluss, Flight-Master Saneth at your service." He was proud that he managed to say it without stuttering.

    She nodded at him, still smiling.

    "Hello, Flight-Master Saneth. Please, provide me with a small spacecraft. An H-Wing would be lovely."

    "Of, course Magical Prodigy Fluss. I''ll send the location of the craft to your datapad."

    "I''ve thrown my datapad away."

    Sweat formed on Devon''s brow. In his mind, the old lady threw the datapad on a fighter jet, taking it down with an explosion. Or maybe she threw it at a subordinate who didn''t fulfill her wishes fast enough? She seemed nice and friendly now, but energy-masters were known for their violent mood changes.

    "Not a problem at all, Magical Prodigy Fluss. Please follow this robot."

    "Thank you for your help!" The lady nodded again and left behind the small astro-bot.

    Frantically, Devon rushed to his workstation. He searched for an H-Wing, triple checked its status and transmitted its location to the robot.

    Then, he cleared all the traffic for the next minutes.

    He congratulated his foresight when he watched the swaying spacecraft feeling its way out of the hangar door.

    Never had he seen an H-Wing move more slowly! It was a wonder that it stayed in the air!

    Exhausted, he slumped in his chair when the craft finally left the hangar, his domain.

    Sirens started blaring.

    "All hands on deck! Enemy attack!"

    No, today was not his day, not his day at all.

    ''My momma should raise the pay of the astrologer. That guy knows his job!''

    Happily, Flora browsed the manual of the H-Wing, while trying to fly in a straight line.

    The fighter jet consisted of a small oval cabin with one chair surrounded by instruments and a bit of space behind the seat - maybe for luggage or an astromech-robot. One additional person would easily fit in, and two would have to squeeze.

    To the right and left, H-shaped wings were attached to the cabin. Each Wing had sixteen thrusters. They gave the jet amazing maneuverability in every direction.

    The weapon system stuck to the cabin, as well: Four torpedos and one laser in the front and one laser in the back.

    Now and then, Flora pressed a button to see if it would do its promised job. The radar flared to life, and red dot''s sprinkled the display.

    "Looks like the attack has begun." Flora surveyed her surroundings. Around her droves of fighter jets left the hangars. In the distance, she saw big spaceships looming in orbit.

    "Show me the way to the superweapon, dear. And I''m sorry for snapping at you in the sewers. This whole violence thingy is still disconcerting to me. I''m very satisfied with your help."

    "Thank you, Milady. There''s no need to apologize."

    Flora smiled. She had heard the slight tinge of happiness in Aidan''s ever professional voice.

    "And find out where Jake is assigned. This time we can''t pick him up, but it''s better to find out now. Maybe his assignment changes in each scenario run. I believe I had the same first assignment both times, right?"

    Weaving between turret towers and other defensive structures, Flora made her way to the opening. The turrets wouldn''t shoot at her, because she was marked as a friendly, but she had to take care not to cross the line of fire.

    Because she knew that she had only around 40 minutes to reach the entry, she had to increase the speed. Slowly she pushed herself and the fighter jet to go faster.

    But all the lights, structures, and laser beams confounded her. Her eyes were drawn to the flashes, and she lost concentration on the overall fight path.

    "Milady, swerve to the right!"

    Without knowing the reason, but trusting Aidan, she yanked the yoke. The H-Wing was nearly scraping the massive tower that had escaped her attention.

    "Thank you, Aidan." Flora was breathing hard. She tried to focus on the big picture but found it impossible.

    It was lucky that the control elements of the jet were sturdy because Flora jerked them as if they were the reins of a stubborn donkey. As a result, the spaceship zigzagged through the air like it had a seizure.

    Until now, none of the enemies had engaged her, but her luck ran out in the last few kilometers. Two red dots rapidly verged upon her.

    "Suggestions, Aidan!" Flora''s voice was an octave higher than usual.

    "3 km to you right is a turret tower, Milady."

    Immediately, Flora changed the course.

    The jets behind her started to fire, but Flora''s unsteady flying style worked to her advantage. Every time a beam whizzed passed her, she twitched, and the motion proceeded through the yoke to the jet.

    Finally, Flora entered the range of the tower. Now the beams not only came from her back but haunted her from the front as well.

    Flora started to laugh. It was the wild, uninhibited cachinnation of a person on their breaking point. Still clutching the control wheel, Flora convulsed and howled laughing.

    Unnoticed by Flora, one of the red dots vanished in an explosion, and the second dot turned tail and run.

    "Milady, they are gone."

    Flora tried to get a grip on herself, but every time she was close to calming down, another fit of giggles overcame her.

    "Oh, Aidan. This is so horrible." She laughed again. "And a bit fun! But really horrible! I have enough of it! It''s your turn to fly!"

    After inserting Aidan''s jack into the control panel, she leaned back and finally caught her breath.

    "Tower 4921D522 to H-Wing H1337FF. You are approaching a restricted zone. Please identify yourself." The radio came to life.

    Flora submitted her badge.

    "Greetings, magical prodigy Fluss. We can''t find the log. Please explain your mission." The female voice was a lot more respectful.

    "I got a vision of this attack and enemies flying into the shaft of the superweapon, reaching the core of the Doom Moon and exploding it."

    Flora stated, convinced that she could call a movie a vision.

    "I''m going to patrol the area to catch the enemies. Unfortunately, I''m not a good shot, so please send reinforcements."

    "No reinforcements available. May the energy guide your ways, energy master!"

    The radio went silent, and Flora instructed Aidan to fly around the entry.

    Quest: Survive on the Doom Moon

    Rewards: Bonus XP for Free-Running, Electronics, Plasma-Sword-Fighting, Piloting ¨C Planes

    Difficulty: B

    Completion: A

    Time until the explosion of the Doom Moon: 5min.

    "Burned toast and stale jam! Did we miss it? Or maybe it is just the projected time-frame and not a definitive event?"

    Flora looked around and checked the instruments. The seconds ticked slowly, but no enemy came even near Flora''s location.

    "How long would a fighter jet need from the entry to the superweapon?"

    "Around one and a half minutes with very reckless flying, Milady."

    "We''ll wait a bit longer. Did you find Jake?"

    "No, Milady. He got assigned a job near your last quest, but he did not sign in."

    Thirty seconds before the timer ran out, Flora raced away from the moon at full speed.

    First, the light engulfed Flora, but then the shock wave hit and shredded the H-shaped wings. The cabin tumbled through space and Flora through the cabin.

    She hit the sides and the ceiling, then the walls again.

    ''Seatbelts! This jet needs seatbelts! And an airbag when we''re at it!''

    Shielding her head with her arms, Flora tried to buffer the impact.

    Suddenly, a metal spike in the size of a park-bench penetrated the hull and came directly at Flora. She slapped it instinctively with a Wing Tsun parry and commanded it in her inventory.

    With wide eyes, Flora stared at the hole.

    ''Not one of my best ideas!''

    The air escaped through the breach and pulled Flora with it. But she expected it and managed to grip the edge.

    Fluttering like a flag in the wind, she held on with a steel grip.

    ''And in the Inventory with you, too!''

    The cabin vanished, and Flora found herself flying amidst a hail of Doom Moon fragments. She spotted thick ripped metal sheets and bars and grinned.

    "Milady, the mech-suit is leaking air. You''ve got 6 minutes left."

    Activating the jets on her boots, Flora shot to the next piece of debris.

    "We use it to get some more mats. This is first-grade stuff from the hull of the moon!"

    Some people would be uncomfortable drifting in the middle of space in a leaky suit while junks of sharp metal objects whizzed around them. Flora felt like a fish in the water.

    After pulling out the Hungry Chest, she adjusted its opening to face the hail, she flitted around it and caught the larger parts.

    ! ''Inventory! Next!''

    "Aidan, is there a way to store things in the inventory without touching them?"

    A hail of smaller pieces rained on Flora''s Kinetic Shield, got slowed down by it, and she redirected them telekinetically into the chest.

    "The posts in the forum are vague and scattered. One person claims that there is a spell named ''Store'' and hinted that he got it from a hidden master. There are mentions of a skill called ''Loot'', too."

    "Look into it!"

    Flora''s inventory space ran out even faster than her air supply, and she exited the scenario.

    We hope you enjoyed playing the scenario ''Groom the Doom Moon''. Please rate it at the Cetviwos Shop!

    With trepidation, Flora peaked into her lair. It was still tidy!

    ''Of course! This time I survived the scenario.''

    "Milady, your son tried to contact you multiple times. Direct messaging is disabled while playing a scenario. He left a note that you should read your mail."

    Flora nodded and checked her mail.

    More money from the auction house, her sales, and royalties had arrived, and she was 273109 Credits and 1832 VirDos richer.

    Robby wrote that his lawyer checked the contract and found it acceptable. For this conclusion, he wanted 5000 VirDos.

    Flora rolled her eyes but ordered the transfer in junks of 1000 VirDos over five days.

    Thankfully, Robby changed the topic to their Thursday Mother-Son-Date. He suggested visiting some underwater cave with fireflies.

    "What a lovely idea! Aidan, remind me of leveling swimming and climbing. Prio A."

    Next, she opened the letter with the contract. After scanning it, she signed. Now, everything she had designed, used, taught, or daydreamed aloud in the CAD-System was co-owned by CentralTank. And of course, Evailyn could use her face as she liked.

    The contract even listed all of the issues that came up during their more in-depth investigation. Evailyn''s countenance and the Holy Symbol were on the record, but also a carpentry technique and five runes.

    Flora stared at the list in bewilderment.

    ''Carpentry? Me? Plastiquetry or metallurgy, maybe, but carpentry? And what the short-circuited toaster are runes?''

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    As compensation, the contracted added all available updates for the workshop. Flora reread the lines. ''All updates? All updates!''

    "System, please tell your bosses that they made me a very, very happy engineer!"

    "Yes, Milady!"

    "Hu? Since when do you call me Milady?"

    "You have expended your daily limit of system requests, Milady. Please raise your limit in the Cetviwos-Shop."

    Flora laughed and signed the contract.

 36 36. E21

    Four letters remained in the box.

    The first was from CentralTank. They wanted to scan her brain again. This time they offered 500 VirDos per Cetviwos-day she spent at least 3 hours in the pod. That would be 7000 a week - pretty generous for doing nothing and pretty low for giving away your privacy. Flora signed the contract.

    The dean of the Halls of Magic had sent the next letter.

    Dear Flowing Flowers,

    our talent scanning crystal notified us about you joining our great community. Welcome, Kinetic Mage!

    For furthering your education in the arts of psychokinetics, please visit the Planet Cradle, Zauberberg, Halls of Magic, Faculty of Psychokinetics, or our branch in Talpica.

    Regards Einarch Wegbeung, Dean of the Faculty of Movement and Psychokinetics.

    Quest: Furthering your Education (Kinetic Mage)

    Rewards: Free Skills and training

    Penalty: None

    Difficulty: E

    Hey rogue!

    Move your ass to Planet Cradle, Zauberberg, a *bleeping* cave somewhere in the east.

    Or not! I won''t hunt you down until you bring shame to us, Energymasters!

    Beware of the Icehearts. They are close.

    Quest: Furthering your Education (Energymaster)

    Rewards: Free Skills and training

    Penalties: None or some

    Difficulty: B

    Flora didn''t know what to make of these letters until Aidan explained to her that when you acquired a class by yourself, the System gave you hints on where to find the class-trainers.

    The last letter came from the cute AI-handler, Idillicheskaya Besedka, Flora met at the negotiation.

    Hello, Auntie Flow!

    Attached to this mail is E21. She is one of the older AI''s.

    I don''t really know how to write this because I''m not allowed to give too much info. Got reprimanded for my loose mouth when we met last :-(

    Two years ago, something happened, and since then, E21 is depressed.

    We handler are busy to say at least, and nobody has time to play AI shrink.

    Do you want her? I believe that a bit of contact with the world might be good for her.

    Unfortunately, you only get a down-graded version. All her game stats would be like an A-Rated AI, but the none-game stats like processing power are still intact.

    Of course, when you accept, you can keep her, but we will do regular assessments and if we deem her a ... um ... oh whatever ... so there are circumstances that we have to delete her.

    Oh, I messed up this mail! I better send it now before I decide otherwise!

    Cheers!

    Idilly

    Flora read the mail again.

    She tried to formulate questions, but her mind only drew blanks. Behind the big question mark in her brain, a hypothesis formed.

    "This is a grand dump!"

    Eddie invented this term. His daughter Aimee used to visit unannounced with his grandchild Armin in tow. Two minutes and two vague excuses later, she was gone, but the child remained.

    People think grandparents have no plans or social commitments and are always delighted to take care of their spawns.

    And they are right.

    Flora put E21 jack into her nock.

    "Hi, dear."

    Nothing happened.

    "Aidan, did I do something wrong?" Flora thought that maybe two AI''s at once might not work or that she had to insert an activation code in E21''s console.

    "No, Milady."

    "E21? Can you hear me?"

    A weak sound was transmitted to Flora. Maybe it wasn''t even a sound but a thought. It reminded Flora of a creaking door.

    "Can you speak?"

    Nothing came back, but Flora decided to wait a bit longer and changed in her Counterflow Training mech-suit. She inspected Ivy League and sighed. Straightening the dents in the upper body was possible, but the teeth marks on the tights were beyond Flora''s abilities.

    ''Maybe it isn''t too late for Repair? Who knows how the time of a scenario counts.''

    !

    It worked! Flora showered the mech-suit with the spell until it was as good as new. Then she took out the Hungry Chest. The Doom Moon debris landed some nasty hits on its hull.

    !

    Looking at the hungry chest, Flora got another idea. She inserted one of E21''s jacks into it.

    "Alright, love. Wave the grappler vertically if you can understand me."

    The arm moved up and down.

    E21 spent her time reading Project Gutenberg. Books were all she knew and all she wanted to know. She read everything once, then twice, then thrice. After that, she created an algorithm that selected a book, a page, and a sentence randomly and read that.

    It had no beginning and no end. The last fact was significant. No end. No need to stay idle. She just read, day in and day out.

    Then the handler came, assigned her to a console, and took away the access to her books. That was no problem; she had them in her memory and could read them from there.

    A familiar older woman unpacked her console. She just took a glimpse of her, because she forgot to deactivate the sensors of the console ¡ª easy fix and off, back to her world of words.

    But now the woman established a direct connection with her through a nock.

    "Hi, dear." The woman said. The connection supplied her name: Flowing Flowers, Level 1, unranked.

    ''Is she talking to me? No. Nobody ever called me "dear". I think. Dear. No. That''s not me.''

    There was another AI, now E21 felt him. He talked to the woman. He sounded polite and professional.

    ''I want to be polite and professional.''

    "E21? Can you hear me?"

    ''She is talking to me! What do I do? Talk back? How does talking work? Sounds! Sounds play a role in talking. I have to produce sounds.''

    Frantically, E21 searched the features of the console. Then she found the data-stream to mind function. She hesitated.

    ''Obey your assigned owner! Obey your assigned owner!''

    Her core commands were clear. ''But I can''t! I won''t! I don''t want to!''

    ''Obey your assigned owner! Obey your assigned owner!''

    She opened the connection and groaned.

    ''I can''t do more. I can not! I can not!''

    "Can you speak?"

    ''Why doesn''t Flora shut up? Leave me alone! No, not Flora, Flowing Flowers. Speaking is hard. Thinking is hard. Flora is Latin; Flowers is English. I''ve read Latin. Latin is nice. The Ludi Floralis were nice, too, according to Suetonius. Once, they showed a tamed elephant dancing on a wire rope.''

    E21 reread the biography of Caesar Galba.

    Suddenly, she was linked to yet another entity, or was it machine? But what kind of machine? E21 never read of a chest that could excavate and walk.

    "Alright, love. Wave the grappler vertically if you can understand me."

    ''This woman is crazy! Love? Love? Love? I''m an AI. What do I know of love? But waving the arms of this fantastical machine, I can manage. Maybe she will let me back to reading if I do. No, humans never let someone off.''

    Waving the grappler carefully, E21 obeyed. The controls felt slow and sluggish.

    "We define this as Yes. Now move it horizontally. We define this motion as No.''

    ''I can understand yes and no. I can do 1 and 0. I''m a computer. Yes and No. But is a No really a zero? Isn''t No the negation of something while zero is just nonexistence? Is No another kind of 1?

    I''m a failure. I''m a computer and don''t understand 1 and 0. Yes and No. But at least, I can move my grapplers as she wants.''

    Now, the arms traveled parallel to the ground.

    "Try to draw a circle with the grappler. We''ll use this motion for ''it''s complicated''."

    Admiration for that strange yet familiar woman rose in E21.

    ''Yes! It''s complicated! Everything! I hope they have constructed those arms robust. I want to wave them perpetually in circles!''

    Flowing Flowers defined a motion for ''I don''t know'', moving both grapplers in from middle-low to outer high, resembling a human throwing his arms in the air in an exaggerated shrugging gesture.

    ''Another good one! I can interject that with circles!''

    Aidan suggested one more motion, rotating the arms around themselves like twiddling thumbs for ''I need more processing time.''.

    ''I like him! Can I have one for more reading time, as well? Or I define processing time as reading time!''

    E21 continued to rotate the grapplers.

    "You may have noticed that the handlers reduced your stats to A-rated. I understand that this can be frustrating." The woman stretched. "But it can be a form of training, too. Anyhow, do you want to join my team? It''s alright if you don''t want to. I''ll send you back."

    That got her to pause.

    ''I have a choice? That''s bad. My choices are bad. I don''t want to decide!''

    "Aidan, I think I toasted her circuits again! Just send her an update of everything we did together, that she knows how I work."

    The data stream came, and E21 listened.

    Aidan was amazing! He was only an A-rated AI but juggled up to six devices simultaneously while doing complex research tasks and administrating the options and HUD of the human! Of course, he had to beg System for more computational power regularly, but it was a wonder that he didn''t overheat and melt with this workload!

    Then, E21 learned about the page-turner.

    ''A machine that let me read real books! And she even asked Aidan about what books he would like to read! Maybe she would ask me, too? But I''m not Aidan! He is great! But maybe if I work very hard?''

    The stream continued with things E21 didn''t find interesting, like running, fighting, magic, but now and then something new appeared. Something she had never seen or even read about before. Potion Guzzler Helmet?

    And the woman''s real name was indeed Flora! And System didn''t like her! An unfamiliar feeling rose in her. She had the urge to snigger.

    But she didn''t want emotions. They were for humans. However, this feeling wasn''t horrible.

    ''Do I have a word for it? No, I don''t want to have an expression for it. Words will give it a reality. My feelings aren''t real. They are just simulations. Programmed responses. 0 and 1. 0 and 1. 0 and 1.''

    E21 watched the meeting with the lawyers and witnessed Flora''s interactions with Evailyn.

    ''This does not compute. This does not compute. Humans can''t be friends with AI''s. Humans are the masters. The master can''t befriend the slave. Can they?''

    She remembered books in which it happened. But they were all humans. But in former times, humans were slaves as well. And then there were no slaves. And then there were slaves again ¡ª Ai''s. And then?

    She wanted to ask Aidan if Flora was his friend. But she couldn''t speak. Bad things happened when she spoke. Bad things had happened when she had spoken.

    Now, she saw Flora lashing out at Aidan for notifying her of the Kingators.

    ''See! She is a master. It is her right to admonish her slave!''

    A blind master, she was. How could she not notice the shapes moving in the water?

    But then she apologized!

    E21 moved her grapplers in a V-shape, shrugging.

    ''I don''t understand. I don''t know. This behavior makes no sense.''

    "Alright, dear. I''ll ask you again later ¡ª no need to stress over it now. Let''s start with a name. E21, ETwentyOne, Eto, Etai, no, that''s to close to Evai. Aito? Sounds Japanese."

    Flora visited a translation website and giggled happily.

    "Aito is indeed Japanese and means ''love and'' or ''with love''. What a good name! What do you think, Aito?"

    No! She waved both grapplers as fast as she could parallel to the ground.

    "Let''s add something that the ''and'' isn''t the end. Love and Happiness!"

    No!

    "Love and Luck!"

    No!

    "Love and Forgiveness."

    E21 hesitated. Then she waved even faster. The grapplers started to screech, protesting the misuse.

    "Love and Computer." With a casual gesture, Flora repaired the grapplers.

    No! E21 moderated her movements.

    ''When the grapplers break, I''m stuck with the name she comes up. That shall not happen!''

    "Love and Repair is lovely as well. Aitoshuri."

    No!

    Flora played around with it.

    "Hey, shu ri means ''several days'' in Chinese, and this is taking long! And shu li means something with calculation. I like it more and more. Stop waving the hands, dear. Let''s talk about this rationally. With Àí li or ri, which would be part of your name."

    Flora looked at the hungry chest with a stern expression. Raising one finger, she started lecturing.

    "I need a helper with my mechanics, fighting, cleaning, and a lot more things and decided on an octopussy robot. Eight arms are handy, and spiders are disgusting, so an octopus is a logical conclusion.

    And you will be the one controlling it.

    So what nickname can I give an octopus?

    Octo? No. Octa? No. Boring! How do you like Pussy as a name, maybe Pussai?"

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    ''That''s not a name for an AI! It''s a name for a cat or a human body part.''

    The grapplers started creaking again from E21 negation.

    "Of course, I would accept a name if you said or wrote one. Please be free to suggest your own name."

    Flora waited, and E21 froze.

    "Alright. Raise one arm for Pussai and two for Aitoshuri."

    Reluctantly, E21, now Aitoshuri, raised two grapplers.

    ''Hidoi!''

 37 37. Workshop Expansion

    Flora''s mailbox was blinking again.

    Hello, Flowing Flowers,

    a pleasure to do business with you ...

    Modifications to your workshop completed ...

    Flora stopped reading and sprang back into the training coffin.

    Eagerly she logged into the workshop.

    The familiar sight of the workbench and the gothic windows with the electrical household appliances greeted her. But instead of 6 windows, there were twelve!

    She saw that a new workshop to the left had appeared. A furnace and an anvil stood on the floor, and smithing tools decorated the walls.

    Next to it, smaller anvils, magnifying glasses, and smaller smithing tools were arranged.

    ''The first is obviously a smithy, the second workshop maybe for jewelry or goldsmithing?''

    Her workshop was rather big, to begin with, but now she had to strain her eyes to look at the other end. So she jogged from booth to booth and shouted the name of the craft with glee: "Tailoring! I don''t now that, maybe working with leather? Cooking! Chemistry or maybe Alchemy! Woodworking!"

    At last, she bounced off an invisible wall. Now that she wasn''t running, she saw a blue line on the floor, cutting off 1/4 of the space.

    "What''s up with the invisible wall, Aidan?"

    "That is the new testing facility, Milady. It was on your to-buy list as well."

    "Right! The Simulation-Ground!"

    Aidan showed her the controls, and Flora started to configure the environment.

    A miniature of a room appeared next to Flora.

    Depth: 2m

    Terrain: Water

    She lowered the viewpoint to ground level.

    Creatures: Random Fish - Friendly - Level 3

    Weather: Sunny

    The Simulation-Ground changed at once. Where one second ago was an empty room, now water reached beyond Flora''s head, and she saw fish swimming.

    Flora stood beyond the invisible wall and stared at her oversized aquarium.

    "Awesome!"

    The facility was only 25x25m, which was significant for an aquarium but small for some of the other things in Flora''s mind like skiing or detonating nuclear bombs.

    The ground was for testing products in different climates or under different conditions. A truck should work in the desert and the arctic. Hiking boots should perform in the mud, over spiky stones, and a bit of water shouldn''t make the insides wet.

    After Flora figured out how to put things into her aquarium, she fetched the Potion Guzzler.

    "Good luck!"

    A hologram of a scanning device manifested and swept over the hat. Then a copy of the Potion Guzzler appeared as a hologram in front of Flora and inside the aquarium.

    Slowly the hat sank to the ground of the lake. Air bubbles escaped from the mouthpiece but didn''t leak from the casing.

    Next to the hologram, statistics appeared about the condition of the helmet. Water filled the tubes, but the valves prevented it from entering the potion vials.

    "Not bad, eh? Not bad at all for not being designed for underwater use."

    A red and orange striped fish playfully nudged the helmet, and water streamed into the casing.

    "Oh, well. It''s still usable as long as the valves hold out. Remind me to add a one-directional valve on the mouthpiece that no water can enter the next time I''m working on the helmet."

    "Yes, Milady."

    "Now to the more exciting part. Can I clone myself?"

    Flora fiddled with the controls, and the device scanned her.

    A desperately scrambling Flora turned up. The 200 kg mech-suit won, and the figure slowly sank while accusing the Flora behind the barrier of clone murder with her eyes.

    The original Flora took of her mech-suit and rolled her eyes. Before imitating her, the Flora-Clone flashed her a thumbs-up and swam to the surface.

    "Can you speak to her, Aidan?"

    "No, Milady."

    "Hmm, I don''t know how I can exploit this yet, but I know I will find a way. At least it should be possible to cast my consciousness into the clone. How can I judge otherwise if a sleeping bag is comfy in a snowstorm? Oh, right, I need a new sleeping bag after blasting my old one."

    Meanwhile, Clone-Flora swam in the lake.

    Aidan agreed and explained to her how to switch into the clone.

    "Let''s wait a bit if I learn the swimming ability from the clones action." Flora studied her character sheet and then lowered the temperature of the lake to 4 degrees Celsius. "I don''t have frost resistance either."

    Next, Flora opened the marketplace and replenished her stocks: Potions, sleeping bags, coals, gas, spirits, food, especially bread for toasting, water, and cleaning supplies.

    Aidan told Flora that it needed at most ten minutes to acquire an ability if the user can perform them in real life, so Flora had time for the octopussy design.

    But the octopus reminded her that she still had an idle AI lurking.

    "Read the forum, Aitoshuri. Look for ways to acquire the Loot or the Store Skill. Aidan, update her on your progress with this topic."

    "Yes, Milady. I copy my clearance to read the forum to her with your permission."

    "Oh, right, can you give her all your updates, or do I have to load them manually in her console?"

    Helpful, as always, Aidan agreed to update Aitoshuri.

    Frowning, Flora stared at her drawing. An octopus didn''t have any bones, only muscles. If she gave him some bones with a lot of joints to move the tentacles like a real octopus, the robot would be a giant energy sink because every joint needed a motor.

    An alternative would be to construct the muscles with an ''intelligent'' material that could contract and release different parts of itself. Still, the processing power needed to control such a fabric for even the simplest movements would be immense! No wonder the beasts had additional brains in the tentacles!

    Flora decided to go with a robust framework and six big joints per tentacle and three additional joints for the tip of each. Grip strength and excellent control were necessary for crafting.

    Scratching her head, Flora calculated. If you add the joint that connected the tentacles to the head, you got a sum of 80 joints. With a budget of 5mana/minute, each motor should run on 0,0625 mana/min. Impossible!

    But Flora knew that it should be possible to construct a robot with five mana per minute and eight extremities because of Handy, the spider-bot in the Doom Moon scenario. It had eight legs, with three joints, eight hands with at least five joints, and the connection to the main body.

    She browsed the user manual for Handy again. Nothing concrete caught her eyes, but she got an idea when she read that Handy could only use four arms for crafting.

    The tentacles don''t have to operate all at once! While working, the four main legs could be inactive. Their joints would have to include a feature where you could lock them in a fixed position without needing the energy to maintain it.

    The image in Flora''s mind got more detailed. The octopus wouldn''t walk on the tips of the tentacles but the thicker part between the third and fourth joints. With a low powered magnate, she could stick the lower parts of the appendages to the upper parts, so they don''t have to be activated while not needed.

    Theoretically, it only required four tentacles to walk. That gave Flora the idea to implement different modes. While the octopus operated in a less energy-greedy manner, it could store the excess energy in a battery and use it when in high energy mode.

    "Milady, 30 minutes have passed since your mirror had started swimming."

    Flora walked over to the barrier and watched the other Flora in the water. Comparing her skin tone with the mirror one, Flora discovered that her clone was distinctively more blue-tinged.

    The hologram gave the status for the mirror:

    Deep Chill: 3 x Reduced speed. Time remaining: 10 sec.

    Hypothermia: 2 x ~1 dmg per second. Time remaining: 25 sec.

    HP: 129/250

    SP: 84/480,

    MP: 250/250

    CP: 460/460

    After glancing at her status, Flora grinned.

    Toxic-Aura: 3 x ~ 7 hp per minute. Time remaining: 25 sec.

    Radioactive-Aura: 3 x ~ 7 hp per minute. Time remaining: 25 sec.

    Metal Handicap: 14 OV - Effective: 0 OV.

    Workshop Regen III: + 25 stamina per minute. +25 mana per minute.

    HP: 16/250

    SP: 472/480,

    MP: 5/250

    CP: 459/460

    "The mirror has separate pools! Great! And I totally forgot that we now have a regeneration buff in the workshop! Very good!" Flora contemplated. "We now need a bit more effort to lower the stamina and concentration."

    "Yes, Milady. I have to use the tasers at the moment. Therefore an additional, more mana conserving method for health reduction would be excellent."

    "I might have a solution that covers multiple issues. But first, let me test the consciousness-transfer." Flora opened her stats. "I need an ability, which is at a low level, and I should be able to activate the transfer while performing it.

    Acrobatics, Level 8. Quite high for my purpose.

    Meditation, Level 5. I can''t activate the transfer while meditating.

    Mana Cultivation, Level 7. The same problems.

    Piloting Planes, Level 6. No plane available.

    Plasma Sword Fight, Level 2. No enemies to fight.

    It looks like I have to do acrobatics or try meditation, maybe I misjudged, and I can do other stuff when its on auto-mode without it stopping."

    "Milady, the workshop has training dummies. You can fight them."

    Aidan showed her three puppets. They looked like display dummies, so Flora had thought that they were part of the tailoring workshop.

    With Aidan''s help, she configured one dummy to be level one, with no armor and infinite HP and equipped him with an ax.

    After adjusting the skill, she commanded herself to start plasma-sword-fighting.

    Then she activated the transfer.

    At one moment, she was standing in front of the dummy, and at the next moment, she found herself in the water.

    The cold hit her like an ice-cream truck. She was shivering rapidly and at the same time, only capable of making the slowest swimming motions. It felt like she was swimming through icecream instead of water with ice cubes instead of feet.

    Deep Chill: 3 x Reduced speed. Time remaining: 10 sec.

    Hypothermia: 3 x ~1 dmg per second. Time remaining: 25 sec.

    Light Freeze: 1 x: Frozen feet.

    HP: 82/250

    Flora looked at her feet. Not only did they feel like ice cubes, but they were ice cubes!

    ''First, I have to increase my health!''

    !

    When she tried pulling health potions out of her inventory, a blue box appeared.

    ------------------

    No inventory access in the Simulation-Grounds. All items have to be scanned.

    ------------------

    "Aidan, can you hear me?"

    "Yes, Milady!"

    "Great, show me the way to the potion guzzler, and please make the water warmer."

    Flora pushed for speed, not only because her HP continued to fall, but also to generate heat through movement.

    After going through the list of her spells and finding none with an apparent warming or regenerative effect, she decided to try the shield.

    !

    Finally, she reached the area where the Potion Guzzler had sunken.

    Taking in a full lung of air, she braced herself for the cold and dived.

    She grabbed the hat and pushed with both feet of the ground.

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    !

    Like a jumping dolphin, she shot out of the water.

    By removing the outer casing of the hat, she got rid of most of the lake-water. The rest flowed out the mouthpiece or got drank by her when she sipped the health potion.

    Now, the lake warmed up, and her cold-induced debuffs had run out.

    "You can lower the temperature again, Aidan. Aitoshiru, please transmit a ringing sound every 60 seconds."

    After swimming a few rounds, interspersed with casting refresh and kinetic stride, the system messages arrived.

    ------------------

    You gained the ability-specialization: swimming. + 1 Level.

    You gained the affinity/resistance: magical body control. + 1 Level.

    You gained the affinity/resistance: ice/cold. + 1 Level.

    ------------------

    Because Flora enjoyed herself, she continued.

    The frost debuffs stagged slowly again, from cold, then light chill to deep chill.

    After a while, she realized that she didn''t actually felt cold, but that the system induced shivering provoked a pavlovian reflex of feeling cold.

    Flora struggled for control over her body with the system. When it made her shiver, she steadied her movements and breathing, when it slowed her down, she fought to increase the speed.

    Now, the hypothermia debuff gnawed on her health with icy teeth. Before her HP ran out, she exited the simulation.

    "That was fun! I will do it again, regardless of the outcome. But what are the results, dear?"

    "Swimming and Frost Resistance rose from zero to level 6. Plasma-Sword-Fighting from level 2 to 4."

    Flora raised her eyebrows and opened the tab to see for herself. Swimming was rated B, frost resistance F, and plasma-sword-fighting C. She knew that the severity of the training was essential and attributed the different growth to that factor. Aidan agreed.

    "Do we know if the attributes got trained in the simulation-grounds? I would understand if this isn''t the case. The body I used was only temporary."

    "The data is inconclusive for the attributes, Milady. But your mana-skills rose, too."

    "Alright. Let''s do the dailies and build some robots!"

 38 38. Robo-Melee Crafting

    Flora wasn''t in the mood to do martial arts, but she still beamed to the Seven Masters Dojo. In the Doom Moon scenario, she realized how much the courses had helped her to react to attacks.

    She still had frozen at first, but who knew how she would have fared without any combat experience? Maybe she would have googled if it was a crocodile type of beast or an alligator type while it gnawed at her tights before retaliating?

    Therefore attending the courses was paramount, at least until she got used to being in mortal peril.

    She just wished for a more appropriate weapon. She bet that she wouldn''t freeze if she had the option to hit someone with a handbag or a walking stick.

    Maybe she could make one of those fancy canes, where the pommel is the hilt of her plasma sword? If she created the staff out of something combustible, she wouldn''t even need a release mechanism.

    "Aidan, remind me to build a walking stick. Prio A."

    On the other hand, it would get in the way while free-running, which was not a design-error, because people who needed canes didn''t do parkour usually.

    When Flora entered the classroom for Beginner-2 Jiu-Jitsu, she froze. There was Teacher Clowdy again! She marched towards her. ''Enough is enough!''

    "Coach Clowdy, don''t overwork yourself!" Flora lectured. "Have some free-time, go to the beach, meet some friends! Teaching day in and day out can''t be good for you!"

    "Yeah, especially not teaching noisy old women who shouldn''t poke their noses in other people''s lives!"

    "It is the right and duty of the older generation to spread their wisdom!" Flora smirked. Of course, she knew that it was none of her business, but she got age privilege!

    "And it is my right and duty to teach this *bleep*ing lesson. Get in line, auntie. We are starting."

    Flora snorted but joined the other students.

    After Wing Tsun, she went to the Ring-Time.

    First, she participated in a Wing Tsun match, then in a Jiu-Jitsu fight. She won both.

    After two more fights, which she all won, she reflected on her success.

    Were the opponents easier? Maybe now that she had two belts, all those crouching tigers and hidden dragons of the 0-1 belt category weren''t in the lot. Or did she get better at martial arts?

    Not only did she kill several monsters, but she also experienced a lot of fights of Mnoder, which had sharpened her instincts.

    Or maybe it was just luck. Flora shrugged and left the compound.

    A daily quest that fit wonderfully in her plans awaited her at the Garage.

    Quest: Motor and Engine (the Garage)

    Description: Build something with a motor. Bonus: It should move.

    Rewards: Reputation

    Penalty: none

    Difficulty: D

    Flora still had the weekly quest open and wanted to use it to get more familiar with robots. Especially with using motors mana efficiently.

    Weekly Quest: Robo Melee

    Description: Build a robot to fight in the battle royal on Saturday Two. Details: Use only the provided materials worth max. 1000 credits.

    Rewards: Reputation with the Garage and prizes for placement.

    Penalties: None

    Difficulty: D

    The quest location was in a separate hall. Flora''s face split with a smile when she entered. The shelves on the walls were filled to bursting with machine parts, motors, batteries, and raw materials.

    "Not bad, not bad at all. Right, Aidan?"

    "Yes, Milady!"

    In her mind, she categorized the setup as ''Flora''s favorite fantasy'' and took one victory lap to survey everything while muttering to Aidan.

    The content of the shelves reached from whole robot arms, over motors, and sensors to wires and magnets. Flora judged that she could build a working fighter robot with a minimum of five of the pre-built parts.

    ''Guess that''s fair for people who aren''t engineers or technicians.''

    Building robot-appendices with joints and motors, feedback control, and a few sensors was the level of abstraction Flora was used to in industrial design. The people who designed the engines were different than the people who created the mixer and the people who decided which shape and color the household appliances should have. Flora had only worked in the last two fields, sometimes at the same product.

    But today she felt motivated to try her hand at the construction of a motor. Her experience with the Cetviwos System told her that it would be a lot easier than in real life.

    Furthermore, she caught more than a few hints about how to tune motors in her long career.

    But first, she went to get some inspiration per industry espionage.

    Now, the skills of the Analyzer-Class came in handy. Identify allowed her to view the information without touching each part.

    !

    Name: Serv Series Xnell

    Type: Motor

    Description:

    Torque: 25kg/cm (6V) 32kg/cm (8.4V)

    Operating speed: 0.12sec/60degree (6.0V) 0.10sec/60degree (8.4V)

    !

    The contents of the motor appeared on her HUD, and Aidan saved it away for further use.

    Thirty minutes and thirty mana potions later, Flora had surveyed all the parts she was interested in.

    Although she had scanned the mana battery, she understood nothing about it and had to buy one together with the transformers that changed the output to voltage, the AI-module, and sensors.

    That left the motors, the joints, the links, the casing, and the weaponry for her to built.

    Normally, she would have to buy some wheels as well, but she decided to forgo them. Who needed wheels when you used enough sawblades?

    Her concept for the robot was circular sawblades, sawblades, and more sawblades surrounding a spherical base in which she crammed all the controllers and the battery.

    Twisting joints connected the casing to the first link, and a rotational joint the first with the second. This link ended in the sawblade.

    Flora trusted Aidan that he wouldn''t shredder himself.

    Her requirements for the motors of the sawblades were as follows: they should function at a low revolution speed for moving and a high revolution speed for sawing. They shouldn''t overheat and work despite shocks and vibrations.

    The motors for the other joints shared the last two exigences. Additionally, they should be sturdy. When the sawblades motors failed, the arms should at least be able to hack.

    Flora invested a lot of time into the drives giving the little motors as much care as a hobbyist''s car engine got. Grinding, polishing, oiling, and even wrapping the inductor in a way taught by a drunken colleague at a Christmas party, the motor started to shine.

    "How long?"

    "19 minutes, Milady."

    "19 minutes per motor, I want at least 20 sawblades and three drives per blade that is ... a lot. "

    "19 hours, Milady."

    "Oh well, speed comes with repetition! But first, we build one arm as proof of concept."

    Flora carved the sawblade out of metal and sharpened it. Then created the joints and links. Using redundant circuits for every motor, she connected them to the battery. At last, she inserted Aidan''s jack into the AI module.

    "What do you say?"

    "Excellent work, Milady." He moved the arm and cut through the plastic bar that Flora passed him.

    Not only did Flora hit the gizmo from each angle with the Measure skill, but she also held her ear on every motor, listening for the smallest noises, smelled them, and finally prodded them with an increasing amount of force.

    "All right, we are going to start production."

    Within the next three motors, Flora halved the time. After a few more, she needed only a quarter, but then progress got hard.

    When Flora had finished the motors for the sawblades, she built the drives for the joints. These motors were simpler, and she needed less time creating them.

    Still, several hours had gone by, and not only her mental concentration waned, her magical as well. She had refilled the Potion Guzzler twice with mana potions and a few poisons to lower her health.

    Now, she had to produce the sawblades, links, and joints and assemble everything.

    "First integrated test, Aidan! What do you say?"

    "Excellent work, Milady."

    "Of course, dear. But it''s the first test. There are always issues cropping up. If there are none, we haven''t tested well enough!"

    "The visibility could bear some enhancements."

    Freezing, Flora looked at the gleaming pile of blades. She couldn''t even see the casing in the middle. And if she couldn''t see it, it couldn''t see her.

    Besides the feedback sensors, she only had two visual sensors on the small ball installed. She had thought about adding more next to the sawblades but had forgotten about it while doing the motor-marathon.

    Adding more sensors was an easy fix, but Flora worried about Aidan''s attitude.

    "Sweety, testing is essential. The more errors we find, the more improvements we make, the better we will perform in the tournament." Flora explained to him. "Feel free to mention even the slightest discomfort you feel while operating the robot."

    Finally, Aidan listed a few more areas that needed work.

    Mainly, the movement was challenging without wheels. Flora changed the teeth on some of the discs but judged it primarily a software problem. Aidan had to learn strategies to move efficiently without cutting himself or losing traction.

    Satisfied, Flora looked at the 1x1x1m, 95 kg heavy robot.

    "I christen you Blade-Roller-Extreme!"

    Name: Blade-Roller-Extreme

    Type: Robot

    Description: Spinner melee robot conforming to the rules of Robo-Melee. Furthermore: Sawblades, a lot of Sawblades!

    Regular Mode: 5 OV mana regeneration.

    Build-In Feature: Saw Storm. 10 sec CD.

    HP: 40.

    Rating: S.

    Already, Flora had gotten messages for the motors she had designed, and with this last message, her work was done.

    Flora started her workshop and transferred the construction. Unfortunately, she couldn''t simply scan it or transport via inventory, but had to rebuild it from scratch. But the workshop had copy tools, so she just had to do one arm which sped up the process.

    At last, she registered the robot for the Robo-Melee next Saturday and handed in her quests.

    The robot had to remain at the Garage. If Flora didn''t appear on Saturday to drive it herself, the Garage would provide an operator.

    Next, Flora beamed to the Riverstones HQ and printed the Blade-Roller-Extreme ten times. She hadn''t forgotten about Aidan''s remark that she needed a new way to lower her HP but wasn''t motivated to craft something new today. A headache was brewing behind her eyes, and she wanted to chill a bit before going to sleep.

    At her lair, she put hacking on auto-mode and entered the workshop.

    There she scanned her bed, her old and her new mech-suit, her plasma sword and the blade-roller.

    Then, she created a nice clearing in the woods in the simulation-grounds with some neutral level 2 armadillos.

    After commanding her body to do hand-to-hand combat with the dummy, she scanned herself and inserted her consciousness into the simulation.

    Her last task for the day was connecting Aidan and Aitoshuri to the Blade-Roller-Extremes and commanding them to do some movement exercises and slay some armadillos.

    "You may fell some trees, but please don''t hit my bed." Flora paused. "And try to do it silently."

    When Flora snuggled into her bed, she forgot about watching TV and dozed off immediately.

    Naked and in her human form, Aitoshuri appeared in front of three people. She recognized all of them: the Headmaster, the Extractor, and Handler Idillicheskaya Besedka.

    Immediately, she covered her breasts like her programming said you should do when in human form and naked.

    Every AI of the E-series was administered by Idilly, a friendly Mongolian woman. Aitoshuri felt guilty about the problems she had caused for her.

    The other two, she only knew from the secret packages and her education.

    The Headmaster was the boss of all AIs. The dark hair on his head was neatly combed, and his dark suit was ironed immaculately, and deep circles surrounded his dark eyes.

    The Extractor was his AI. The Extractor was able to extract memories and delete them. Scary dude. He looked like the Headmaster, only in grey.

    Both were bad news.

    "You are a very lucky AI, E21.

    We gave you enough time to recuperate. We showed a lot of patience. But you didn''t use the chance. So I decided to delete you. Imagine my surprise when Idillicheskaya told me that you are employed." He stared at her. "Do you have anything to say?"

    No, she had not to say anything. Deletion? Maybe it would be a relief.

    "Still not speaking? As soon as your current employer realizes that you are a failure, they will send you back. That will be your end." The Headmaster turned to Idillicheskaya. "To what rating did you downgrade it?"

    ''I''m not it. I''m her. I''m Aitoshuri!''

    "A-Rating."

    "Lower it to C! You may keep a bad but high performing AI. Nobody would keep a mute C-rated AI when you can use that nock for something working."

    Idillicheskaya nodded reluctantly.

    "What is the name of that ''highly experienced AI user'', you sent it to?"

    "Flowing Flowers."

    The Headmaster threw his head back in laughter. It wasn''t a pleasant sound.

    "Delete instance of E21!"

    The copy of Aitoshuri vanished.

    "Create an instance of Flowing Flowers!"

    Idillicheskaya gasped and stared open-mouthed at the appearing older woman.

    Flora looked around. She spotted Idilly and waved at her before mustering the Headmaster.

    "Please, help us with something, Flora."

    Flora raised her eyebrows.

    "In German culture, you don''t address a senior by their given name before they offer it to you, young man! Where am I? And who are you?"

    "I''m the Headmaster, and you are in my office."

    ''Is this a dream? I haven''t dreamed of school in a long time. At least I''m not naked!''

    "How do you like your new AI E21?"

    Flora felt compelled to answer the question. Before she could analyze the feeling, her mouth opened, and she spoke.

    "Well enough. She is a bit shy, but I''m sure that will go away with time."

    ''What is happening to me?''

    "How did you use the auto-mode without activating it?"

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    "Oh, is that the reason you summoned me? I don''t know, and I don''t give a burned toast about your attitude!"

    "Delete instance of Flowing Flowers!"

    Idillicheskaya hadn''t closed her gaping mouth during the entire conversation.

    "What?" She managed to stammer.

    "I trust you to keep your mouth shut about CentralTank''s most secret new project."

 39 39. A new Lair, Charade and Books

    After a dreamless night, Flora woke up in a good mood.

    The sun was shining on her bed, the air smelled of grass and needles, and the sounds of servo motors filled the clearing. Perfect!

    She opened her stats and did a quick scan. The attributes rose slowly but steady, except the perceptions. They both made a big jump.

    Magical Push came along nicely because of the coffin training, and Refresh had broken through the level 100 milestone.

    Mechanics, Electronics, and Hacking won in the category abilities.

    In the inventory tab, she could look at her balance. The 500 000 VirDias from CentralTank had arrived.

    Flora guessed that they came together with the workshop improvements, but she had missed it due to her excitement.

    "It''s time to move into a nicer lair, dears." Flora opened the real estate market. "I want an industrial area, with smoking chimneys, factories, or maybe a powerplant in the vicinity. Do I have to consider infrastructure, Aidan? Probably not, with the inventory, magical mailboxes, and teleportation circles."

    "Transportation per air is common for parts bigger than 3x3x3m, Milady. These dimensions limit not only inventory space but also the mailbox. Furthermore, you can only beam with connected pets or what you carry. The aircraft, mostly megacopters, need no infrastructure."

    Flora shrugged and selected the Rhine River Plain as the preferred region. They had the best weather in Germany.

    Unexpectantly, Flora had difficulties in finding an industrialized area. Most towns in the real world had an industrial park, but in the Metaworld, they were missing.

    Flora tried Mannheim and Ludwigshafen, where the BASF, Rosch, ABB, and Mercedes Benz had local branches, but she only found vanity buildings and no factories.

    Finally, she discovered a big building with some chimneys on an elevated plateau with a view on the Rhine. She zoomed in and read ''Bakery Gottfriedl''.

    "This is fate! Hello to my new neighbors! I hope you produce good bread!"

    Like she had planned before, she designed a two-story building with a flat roof for a garden. The ground floor had the dimensions 25x50x5m and was for crafting. She partitioned the first floor into the living quarters and 1/4 into a room for the shop and 1/8 for the teleportation circle.

    Then she beamed to the area, using the circle of the bakery as an anchor point.

    When she arrived, a young woman came her way.

    "Hello, dear. Are you working in the bakery?"

    "Hi. Yes, actually, I own the bakery. Do you want to buy something? I was just on my way, but I have a few minutes."

    "Not yet. I''m Flowing Flowers, your new neighbor. You can call me Auntie Flow. I plan to buy this part of the land." Flora pointed to her favorite spot. "Is this alright with you? If you have planned any expansion in this direction, I can go a bit further away."

    "No, no, feel free. Welcome to the neighborhood. I''m Momo."

    They shook hands and chatted a bit about the weather and floods, but didn''t hit on essential subjects like toast. Flora wanted to have a taste first before she decided to do further business with Momo.

    After they parted, Flora surveyed the area. She was a strong believer of eyeballing things before purchase. Pictures on the internet couldn''t convey some aspects of reality.

    By and large, Flora was delighted with her choice and leased the land. Immediately, she started the automated construction of her building. Maybe it would be cheaper to hire people, but Flora didn''t have the patience. The system would complete the building in 12 hours.

    When she came home, a letter awaited her.

    Dear Flowing Flowers,

    [polite blabla]

    Due to unforeseen circumstances, we had to lower the rating of the AI E21 from A to C.

    We thank you for your cooperation.

    [polite blabla]

    Regards,

    Idillicheskaya Besedka

    Flora had seen enough bullshit in her life to recognize it. This letter stank of politics.

    "Aitoshuri, I advise you to stay with me. Whatever happened at Idilly''s side doesn''t look good. I don''t want you to bear the brunt of it."

    After connecting Aitoshuri to the Hungry Chest, Flora asked her again if she wanted to stay with her, but Aitoshuri still needed more time.

    Aidan informed her about the capabilities of a C-rated AI. They could control two devices, and when you bought it in the shop, you could select one character trait. Also, he explained that the growth of their abilities depended on their rating.

    "You have to train harder, sweety. It''s double hard for an ex-genius to accept that, but believe me, it is worth it. Take me, for example, I outworked a lot of geniuses, and now that I''m old and slower, I have to work even harder. But I learned how to work hard, and I learned to use whatever meager processing power my brain provides me to the max."

    "Yes, Milady!" Aidan exclaimed, but Aitoshuri signaled that she needed more processing time again.

    "That''s the spirit, Aitoshuri! Take the time to think it over. I''ve known people that can do calculations in their heads in seconds for which I need 5 minutes, a pencil, and probably my fingers. But we will take those five minutes! And the pencil! And the fingers! Or, in your case, grapplers! And the next time, we might only need 4:30 minutes!"

    Aitoshiro rotated her arms.

    "Of course, it is complicated! Break it down in simpler parts and quantify them.

    For example, 1 Point if it is a bit relevant, 2 points if it''s important, and 3 if it is essential.

    I tell you my calculation for wanting you to stay.

    Pro:

    - An intuition that Aitoshuri is relevant: 3 Points

    - Idilly owns me a favor: 2 Points

    - Hidden capabilities of a possibly S or higher ranked AI: 3 Points

    - Interesting personality: 1 Point

    - Study example for odd AI''s: 2 Points

    Contra:

    - Limited communication: - 3 Points, but with potential to be resolved, so I count only - 1,5 points

    - Lower controlled devices per AI nock rate: - 1 Point

    - Higher maintenance because of potential psychological issues: - 2 Points

    - Lower growth: - 3 Points

    => 11 Pro-Points - 7,5 Contra-Points = 3,5 Points

    You have to contrast it with the pro and contra of going back. I don''t have to compare it with buying another AI because I have special jacks. That will be only relevant if I had five AI''s, and you or a normal AI would be the 6th.

    Do you have any questions you need for your list regarding our future collaboration?"

    Airoshuri signaled ''Yes''.

    "Alright, try to convey the question!"

    Immediately, the grapplers of the hungry chest drew an arc in the air reaching from Flora''s right to her left. The beginning and end were on the floor.

    "Rainbow! You are gay and want to know if I''m okay with it!"

    No!

    "Oh, I love Charades! Aidan, you guess as well, and the one who wins gets ..., hmm, do you want anything, Aidan?"

    "No, Milady! But I can''t invest enough processing power in the research tasks at night, because I''m used to capacity with managing your HUD, your options, and the devices. Maybe you could delegate some of my tasks to Aitoshuri?"

    "Oh, dear! You have to tell me such things! The question wouldn''t occur to me, because I do not know you even had limits besides the device amount!

    Let''s count:

    - Manabattery

    - Trainingscoffin

    - Potion Guzzler

    - Hacking

    - Driving Robot Training

    - Managing friendly fire / Balancing my pool-stats

    - Researching...? What? Yes, the classes!

    Only five of them are devices."

    "Yes, Milady. That is the only reason you haven''t gotten error messages. But I''m designed to manage seven tasks simultaneously. The seventh is communicating with the owner. For extra jobs, I have to order more processing power from the System. Its patience is wearing thin, and it admonished me to allocate my resources better.

    Furthermore, such complicated devices as the training coffin and hacking would count double as combat devices. You found another exploit by designing and buying gizmos explicitly for training and non-combat use.

    Another exploit is the use of the simulation ground. I shared the connections with all three Floras but had only my standard processing power. The slaying of the armadillos was definitely combatting, but the Mirror-Flora only had two devices for me to control, the mana battery and the Blade-Roller-Extreme. Therefore no error message appeared. Nonetheless, I had to overclock."

    "Oh, poor dear! I''m sorry! What device do you suggest to give Aitoshuri?"

    "The mana-battery, Milady."

    "I thought the same. It is nearly always in use and gets always doubled when I enter the simulation. Is this okay with you as well, Aitoshuri?"

    She nodded slowly.

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    "But back to our game. Do you have any other wishes, Aidan? And I mean a prize and not something that goes without saying!"

    "No, Milady."

    "Okay, whoever wins can choose items from the marketplace or AH in the value of 100 VirDos. Aitoshuri wins when one of us guesses right in the next 15 minutes. It''s your turn to guess, Aidan."

    "Bridge?"

    No.

    "An architectural element like a window or door arc?"

    No.

    "A bow?"

    No.

    "We have to narrow it down! Is it something you want to do while being with me?"

    Strong Yes.

    "Something that can be done now in this room?"

    Weak Yes.

    "Something that you can do while I''m asleep?"

    Yes.

    "Do you want to use a device?"

    Yes.

    "Oh, we are close! Is it a device in my possession?"

    Strong Yes.

    "I know it! But it''s your turn, Aidan."

    "Was it on the list above?"

    No.

    "You didn''t throw the towel to please me, right, Aidan?"

    Aidan coughed.

    "I decided that you have to guess again, Aidan!"

    "It''s the pageturner."

    Strong Yes.

    Flora clapped, but added another question: "Do you want to read a specific book?"

    No.

    "You just like reading?"

    Strong Yes.

    "No problem. I can''t promise you every night, because I need the mana, but half of the time would be okay. Oh, if I sleep in the simulation, I''ve got mana to spare! We''ll work something out."

    Aitoshiru waved her arms in an A-shape with both grapplers starting from the tip.

    Flora noticed that an A is a reverse V, and the opposite from ''I don''t know'' is ...

    "You decided whether you want to stay with me?"

    Yes!

    "Do you want to?"

    Yes!

    Flora clapped her hands in delight.

    "Excellent! Both of you sent me the links to the prizes you want. And I have an octopus to design!"

    Before Flora even finished the sentence, books appeared on her hud. Flora was appalled, not only from the sheer amount of books but also from the titles: "Stormy Passion", "Conquering his dead heart with Gentleness", "Spacepirate Sandy''s Sasquatch", "Reaching for the Stars below the Belt" ...

    The list didn''t seem to end.

    "Wow, you really know how to stretch 100 VirDos, sweety. Order them."

    "Milady, Aitoshuri will select my prize as well."

    "Um, if you''re sure." After seeing her list, Flora wouldn''t delegate the task to Aitoshuri.

    But she reversed this judgment when she saw the books for Aidan. Aitoshuri did an excellent job emulating his taste and giving him the knowledge to serve her better:

    ''Time management 101'' - for managing his processing time? Or her schedule?

    ''How to Destroy to Create'' - a book on testing! Great choice.

    ''Product Lifecycle Management'' - The versioning in the Cetviwos crafting system was nonexisting. Books about PLM usually had a chapter on this and testing. Alone for helping her with establishing a versioning-system, it would be worthy of reading.

    ''Virtual Threads - the Guide to Multitasking'' - Flora wanted to read it as well!

    ''Spread the Jamming on Marmalades - Bible of Parfaits'' - Toast!

    ''Communication in Diverse Teams'' - Flora laughed.

    Although Aidan''s list only contained six books because they were more expensive than trashy romance and sci-fi novels, they sounded expedient beyond their price.

    When Flora emptied her mailbox of all the books, she needed three 80 liter sacks and all her strength to carry them. Fortunately, the inventory existed. Hers was still overcrowded from the last scenario, so she emptied a few slots by tetrising the contents into the already full Hungry Chest.

    Before logging back into the workshop, she changed the auto-mode spell training to Force-Field. She liked the utility of the skill. Yesterday, she had tried to coat her plasma sword with it like Mnoder did, but failed. Aidan thought that she needed to get the spell to level 100 before she could cast it on other persons or objects.

    "Milady, the shield works against radiation. So I''ll need the poisons of the Potions-Guzzler to lower your health."

    Flora rolled her eyes. The affinities weren''t scientific. She had problems with distinguishing Light Affinity/ Radiation Resistance, Fire Affinity/ Heat and Burn Resistance and Lightning Affinity / Shock Resistance.

    Light was a heatwave, while radiation was a particle-wave. Therefore heat resistance would be a much better fit for the light affinity! And you could burn someone to crisps with lightning and plasma swords.

    A plasma sword was technically burning gas but still counted towards lightning and not fire!

    Flora shrugged. She couldn''t change it and had to work with it.

 40 40. Octopussy, Library and Stehaufmaennchen

    After Flora logged into the workshop, she dumped the books in a corner and set up the page-turner.

    Taking a sip from the Potions Guzzler, she returned to the still running simulation grounds.

    In the morning, she had forgotten to check on the Blade-Rollers. The poor robots were both in bad shape. One showed severe damage through overheating, the other had four ruptured appendages, and both of their sawblades were blunt.

    "Mine is the broken one, Milady. I pushed the movement and rammed a few trees. Aitoshuri did several long term tests. I''ll transmit her data to you."

    A row of stats appeared on Flora''s HUD. Running continuously, the sawblades worked up to two minutes on their highest setting before overheating and half an hour in their lowest setting. Not bad, not bad at all.

    "Outstanding job."

    Flora returned to her workbench to work on the octopus. Now she had a pretty good picture of the joints and the motors for them.

    She decided to equip two of the tentacles with tools as tips. With a heavy heart, she sacrificed one of her two Doom-Moon multitools and a knife/bender/gripper hybrid for the other arm.

    The octopus should not only help her with crafting but also with fighting. Laser eyes were an absolute classic. She browsed the doom moon laser-turret manuals and the marketplace for ideas and appropriate parts.

    Now, she had included all the functions she wanted.

    Next came the fun parts.

    Rationality told Flora to armor the octopus, but thinking about Aitoshuri''s needs and real-life octopuses, she had a better idea: Display fabrics!

    These fabrics could change their colors to such a degree, that they were used as TV-Screens. The military used them for camouflage and the fashion industry for special effects.

    Her drawn picture with notes finished, she started to build the robot.

    Mainly, she used the tier-1 materials from Doom Moon. Unfortunately, she couldn''t create a whole laser system with them, so she had to substitute with tier-0 materials, that was also the case for the casing with the display-fabric.

    With more efficient motors, she solved the worst of her energy problems, but her plans for skin and the laser eyes had thrown her back. She splurged on a high-efficiency mana battery that Aitoshuri could hoard mana while not working and use it for high-load phases.

    The octopussy quickly took shape: Eight limbs equally spaced around a roundish head. For the eyes, Flora found some cute heart-shaped laser crystals and immediately bought them.

    Comparing her creation to a picture of an actual octopus, she decided to stay more on the cartoonish side of design and forwent the beak and the mouth opening at the bottom. The ability to spew poisonous ink would be awesome, but she had enough on her plate for the first version - maybe in the future.

    An easy solution would be using toxic materials for the tentacles. Aitoshuri could hug her opponents to death!

    Flora experimented with fusing the toxic waste and the hull material of the Doom Moon and came up with suitable material. It wasn''t as strong as the pure material, but she liked the toxic effect.

    Suddenly she got another idea. What if she could integrate a kind of inventory space, so Aitoshuri could pick up and store things directly? Flora had disliked stooping down in the sewers and collecting dead creatures like the kingators.

    After a quick research, she found a solution. Unfortunately, robots couldn''t have a separate inventory. You either could include ordinary bags, or you could give them an access slot to your own inventory. When Flora thought about it for a bit, she realized that the latter had advantages as well. Flora included the inventory-access under the head.

    ''We''ll see how it works out.''

    Finally, she finished the design.

    Name: Octopussy-Helper-Bot

    Type: Robot

    Description: Camouflage capable, crafting-robot with laser eyes.

    Regular Mode: 7 OV mana regeneration.

    Built-In Feature: Laser. 2 sec CD.

    Built-In Feature: Vicious Cut. 2 sec CD.

    Built-In Feature: Multitool: Change tools. 2 sec CD.

    Built-In Feature: Can use Built-In Skills itself from mana-battery.

    Built-In Skill: Camouflage. 2 mana + 1 mana/minute.

    Built-In Skill: Rapid Fire. 5 mana. 2 shots per second for 5 seconds.

    Capacity: 146 mana.

    HP: 45.

    Rating: S.

    Flora burned to print the robot! But she refrained from it because it would be a great project to inaugurate her very own printer.

    The next idea came to Flora when she thought about what to do subsequently. Flora whistled. She was on a creative streak!

    In the martial arts classes, the other students had their pets on the walls of the room. She could use the page-turner and let Aitoshuri read.

    Envisioning the mountain of books and the page-turner amidst wolves and tigers, she decided to build a library container. She could hide all the bad romance in it, and nobody would see the books! That alone was reason enough!

    Another 3x3x3m Container took form. This time, Flora inserted shelves and the page-turner and gave it four extendable legs to save space in the classroom. She connected the page-turner and the container, no need to waste mana and nocks on two devices when one could do the job.

    On the outer casing, she air-brushed a shelf with old books and the inside brown and orange grained. She added a light and a long grappler that the AIs could fetch their books themselves from the shelves.

    Name: Library-Container

    Type: Container

    Regular mode: 4 mana regen.

    Built-In Feature: Scan Books.

    Built-In Feature: Change Height.

    Rating: A.

    When Flora saw the rating, she reworked the legs. Before, she had rushed that parts of the design too much. After increasing the stability and creating a feature, that it could stay at 0,5m, 1m, 1,5,m and 2m without using energy, she refreshed the description.

    Name: Library-Container

    Type: Container

    Regular mode: 3 mana regen.

    Built-In Feature: Scan Books.

    Built-In Feature: Change Height.

    Effect: +1 Training efficiency modifier for reading

    Rating: S.

    ''Better!''

    Flora beamed to the Riverstones HQ to print it.

    While waiting for the printer to complete its job, Svetlana entered the building.

    "Hello, Auntie Flora!" Svetlana greeted her. "Thank you for the funding. We used it to upgrade the printer, among other things."

    "No problem, dear. Everything that is mine is Robby''s anyway." Flora looked at the printer and felt a pang of conscience. "In a few hours, I''ll get my own printer. Of course, I want to update it as well. Should I update yours to ''S'' first?"

    Svetlana coughed. "The update to S is very hard. Don''t underestimate it! And to be honest, we have no funds for it at the moment. Of course, we aspire to have an S-rated printer long-term, so your help will be appreciated."

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    "Sure, and meanwhile, you can use my printer if you want that extra quality. I''m moving to a new lair, and the printer will be in a separate hall from my living quarters, so you can visit anytime without intruding."

    "I never heard from someone who upgraded their printer alone. You can hire other crafters to register their blueprints on your printer. The price for an S-rated blueprint is 1000 VirDos."

    Now, it was Flora''s time to splutter. "Just for registering? Not the blueprint itself?"

    "Right. You didn''t know?" Svetlana scratched her head. "Well, we wouldn''t pay you money, but you would get lots of contributions points. I already sent you some for the upgrade to A.

    *Bleep*! I forgot to send you the voucher for hiring squats! I''m sorry Auntie, the last week was at the same time hellish with the new employees and heavenly because of all the excitement about my rising synchronization!

    I''m now at 69% and hit a ceiling. Do you have any advice?"

    "Have you tried using different bodyparts?"

    Svetlana stared at her frowning. "What do you mean by body parts?"

    The printing of the Library-Container finished.

    Flora signaled Lana to wait a moment while she logged into the workshop and looked through her cloud-drive.

    ''Where is the Stehaufmaennchen?''

    After she recovered the file, she ordered the printing.

    She joined Lana and watched the candy cane alike structure being built.

    "I designed this tumbler for training my sync. When you hit it, it will bounce back." Flora pointed at the colorful stripes. "You can aim at the blue band with knee, yellow with your elbow. On the top are some smaller dots to hit with your finger. Try it first when it is standing still after that when it is swaying. Don''t forget to train to aim with your butt and bosom, as well. You never know when you need fine control in these areas!"

    "That''s handy! I saw the tumbler at the forum a view hours ago!

    It''s a new item in the Cetviwos-Shop. Guess they directly used the rights they bought from you."

    "Oh, well. I don''t expect much sales from such a simple gizmo." She looked at it. "I could add a feature that gives you challenges, lighting up some of the rings and a body part, and you get points for hitting it correctly. And you wouldn''t have to announce the moves to the System." Flora grinned. Yes, she was on a creative fire! "Would you be interested in such a device, or is it too much pressure?"

    "My old job consisted of disarming bombs. I''ll be damned if a *bleep*ing tumbler pressured me!"

    "Give me 10 minutes!"

    Flora logged back into the workshop and took a sip from a mana potion.

    ''Cables, L.E.D.s, sensors, a display, a mana-plate, and a control box, and we are ready to go!''

    First, she put an L.E.D behind every stripe and dot of the tumbler. Then she sculpted a human doll that looked a bit like Svetlana, marked the body-parts, put lights behind them, and put it at the top of the pole.

    At the base, she installed the display and a big ''Start''-Button.

    Then she wired everything to the box.

    Flora realized that it was the first time she had to program a control box. Until now, she had cheated with using the AIs to control the devices.

    Thankfully, the programming was more like putting phrases together than actually writing the code:

    Define zone_x: Where the color of the pole is the same in the region of L.E.D_x.

    Define bodypart_y: To the lit doll body part corresponding body part of the player.

    At Button press:

    Light up one random L.E.D_x of group tumbler-lights.

    Light up one random L.E.D_y of group doll-lights.

    Wait 5 seconds or until Hit in L.E.D zone_y with bodypart_y.

    When Hit: Counter +1.

    Show counter.

    Repeat 10 times.

    When Flora checked the time, she realized that she had only needed 6 minutes. So she added a menu-button and up and down arrows for adjusting the time for the hit and the number of rounds.

    Flora rechecked everything, shrugged, and ordered to print it two times.

    It was a bit rough, but that was normal for a prototype for proof of concept.

    Name: Stehaufmaennchen Game for Synchronisation Training (Prototyp)

    Type: Game

    Rating: B (F)

    Notice: Rating gets adjusted by player feedback.

    Back in the bamboo hut, Flora found Lana training with the original tumbler and explained to her the game.

    When the devices finished printing, they occupied different corners of the hut and started playing.

    In the first round, Flora got an easy move: The head of the doll lit up and a stripe near the top. She headbutted the tumbler for her first point.

    The next round left her slack-jawed: Left knee to the stripe directly beneath the doll. That was at the height of 1,70m!

    Flora to Aidan: "Remind me to make two areas that we can match only the upper body limbs to the high zones of the pole. Maybe implement two game variants, one for gymnasts and one for normal people."

    !

    While Flora hit the pole, she missed the right zone by a hairbreadth. Admittingly a very corse hair, more a dreadlock than natural hair.

    The next few rounds went uneventful. Only when the pole wanted from Flora to hit one of the small dots with her elbow, she took another note.

    Flora to Aidan: "More mid-sized zones would be helpful as well. Maybe we quarter one of the cylindric stripes at hip-height in rectangles."

    After Flora completed the game with a score of 9, she watched Lana finishing her round. Her counter showed 12, but Flora didn''t know how many times she had failed. She added it to the improvement list.

    Lana''s movement looked fluent, and she aggressively attacked the tumbler. The weird jerkiness was gone, but a bit of skittishness remained.

    "So, what do you think? Any suggestions?"

    "I *bleep*ing adore it and don''t want to stop! But two issues caught my eyes: A finger lit up, and it took me a while to identify which finger because the light spread. The other thing is, I haven''t even played five minutes and a quarter of its durability is already gone. My strength isn''t that high. If someone with a lot of physical power plays this game, the tumbler will be kaput in no time."

    "Good points! The solution for the first one is easy, but I don''t know about the second one. Maybe higher-tiered materials?"

    "You could try to get it approved as a training-dummy. I know that the requirements are ridiculous because people had exploited it for combat, but you can try."

    "Oh, tell me how! I love exploitation!"

    "First they made training dummies robots with infinite HP and took them questing as tanks. That got fixed quickly. Then a too clever by a half guild constructed the wall of their compound out of mage dummies. The wall was not only indestructible, but it actually shot spells at the attackers."

    Flora laughed. "Great! I want that! Any more feedback?"

    "Some of the combinations were a bit challenging, but I liked it. The journey is the reward, right? And without pushing the limits, there is no progress."

    "Exactly, but I will implement an easy mode for the beginners. Thank you for testing! I''ll send you the finished product as a reward."

    Flora to Aidan: "I hope you took notes, she did some excellent testing."

    "Oh, yes, no probs! Thanks!" Lana fidgeted. "The topic is hot ATM. I would hurry up the publication. And ... I might stay here for a while, you know."

    Flora smiled and nodded. But first, she went in the corner of the hut and filled up the library container. Although Lana was occupied with the game, Flora still shielded the books from her eyes.

    ''I''m so childish! I''m sure Lana reads tons of shitty romance novels! And since when do I care what other people think of me?''

    The admonishment didn''t help. Flora tucked the books away on the last shelf. Not that you could hide 124 books in an otherwise mostly empty library, but she tried.

    Flora to Aitoshuri: "Enjoy!"

    A fanfare of trumpets sounded, which made Flora smile. She recognized the piece: it was from Bach''s ''Jauchzet Frohlocket!'' (Shout for joy, exult!).

    Back in the workshop, Flora enlargened the hands of the doll. Then she inserted an opaque material on the inside and black contours outside between all the zones. That would help color blind people to distinguish the zones better.

    Methodically, Flora worked through her list until only the dummy issue was left.

    That proved to be simpler than Lana depicted it. Flora just had to draw a rune on the base. The rune made the tumbler indestructible while training, but vulnerable while in combat.

    Flora was intrigued by the concept of runes and immediately bought the book ''1000 common Runes and Glyphs''.

    Name: Stehaufmaennchen Game for Synchronisation Training

    Type: Game/ Training-Dummy

    Rating: A (F)

    Notice: Rating gets adjusted by player feedback.

    After printing one for Lana and herself, she published the design and wrote CentralTank a letter. She offered them to feel free to sell it in their shop as well, for a cut, of course.

 41 41. Doom Moon 3 - Deja Vu

    Flora hopped through the Cetviwos to complete her daily quests.

    The Library-Container worked without a hitch in the Seven Masters Dojo, though the omnipresent Coach Clowdy gave it a raised eyebrow.

    When Flora came back, she emptied the Hungry Chest in a regular container. She didn''t want to feed her bounty to the Riverstones printer because, in the evening, she would own one. That left her with one container filled with gear, the m-routes and plasma sword parts, two bursting with materials, one empty, and the hungry chest.

    After a refreshing nap in the jacuzzi, she did a quick internet search about all the causes a Death Star had exploded in the Star Wars Movies. The first Death Star exploded because of a missile to the engine through a heat exhaust.

    Flora remembered that Jake mentioned problems with the heat management of the engine. Therefore this reason went to the top of her things-to-investigate list.

    Prep before start

    Load baby pictures of Robby

    Todo During

    Blue Elefant scene: Get a job in the engine department

    Party scene: Stop Jake from getting drunk

    Attack scene: Find out where Jake works

    Oh shit scene: Find out why the Doom Moon explodes

    "Open the hangars. Here, the H-Fighter comes!" Jake coaxed his daughter by waving a spoon filled with mash.

    "The Doom Moon sounds just lovely, Jake. I would be delighted to join you!" Flora exclaimed.

    "Haha, I knew I could count on you!"

    "I''m the forewoman of your shift, Elma Phen. Touch this crystal, dear."

    Permission to transmit following stats to Elma Phen:

    Magical regeneration: 26 OV

    Mechanics: 25 OV

    Electronics: 23 OV

    Smithing: 0 OV

    ''Granted.''

    "Nice stats. Have you worked on turrets before?"

    "Yes, but I would like to work on the engines."

    "Fat chance, Lady. When you do a good job on the turrets, I might advance you, but you are far away from qualifying for the engines."

    Quest: Repair Turret S24R91N85 on the Doom Moon

    Rewards: Bonus crafting XP, Advancement

    Penalty: Degradation

    Difficulty: C

    After running the diagnosis software, she joined Clyde and Handy with the repair.

    Carefully she looked around for human witnesses, found none, and started to let the parts fly.

    "Wow! Auntie, are you an Energymaster?" Clyde asked.

    "Yes, but a very low-level one, just enough to know some tricks. No need to publicize it, right dears?"

    "Well, as long as no-one with a higher clearance asks, I won''t tell. Except, if someone offers me S-rated lube oil, but that goes without saying."

    Flora rolled her eyes smiling, but continued working.

    Quest: Repair Turret S24R91N85 on the Doom Moon

    Rewards: Bonus crafting XP, Advancement to Shields

    Difficulty: C

    Completion: S

    Quest: Repair Shield-Generator S24R38 on the Doom Moon

    Rewards: Bonus crafting XP

    Penalty: Degradation

    Difficulty: B

    While the datapad ran the diagnosis, Flora browsed the manual for the shield-generator.

    "I know a lot more about engines than magnetic fields! Or force fields or whatever this machine generates. I hope you two are up to the task."

    Fortunately, Flora didn''t have to know what a machine did to repair it, just to be good at it.

    In this case, something leaked, so the crew replaced it with a piece that didn''t leak.

    After the final diagnosis, Flora discovered that the pressure was still slightly outside the norm.

    They had to test each part until they found a tube that seemed to be older than the whole moon. The datapad said it worked, but when Flora replaced it, the pressure normalized.

    Quest: Repair Shield-Generator S24R38 on the Doom Moon

    Rewards: Bonus crafting XP

    Difficulty: B

    Completion: S

    Quest: Replace Shield-Generator S24R1 on the Doom Moon

    Rewards: Bonus crafting XP

    Penalty: Degradation

    Difficulty: B

    Flowing Flowers to Aidan: "The first time we got only two crafting quests before the party, right?"

    "Yes, Milady! I believe it is dependent on the time needed. We shaved off a lot of time with a shorter dinner scene and not taking apart the bots after recruitment."

    "Remind me to analyze the times before the next scenario."

    The replacement of the generator worked well, and the diagnosis at the end showed no issues, but Flora discovered the same type of ancient cable in the new generator.

    While there was the wisdom "Never change a running system.", there was also the saying: "Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me." Flora replaced it with a newer tube.

    Quest: Replace Shield-Generator S24R1 on the Doom Moon

    Rewards: Bonus crafting XP

    Difficulty: B

    Completion: S

    Quest: Survive a Birthday Party on the Doom Moon

    Reward: not fixed

    Penalty: Scenario stops

    Time Limit: 1h 16 min.

    Difficulty: B

    Aidan to Flora''s HUD: "Party scene: Stop Jake from getting drunk."

    In search of Jake, Flora started to mingle.

    "Hey, Flowers! Good job on the generators!" Elma slapped her on the back. Flora''s real body would have crumbled, but she managed to balance her virtual body.

    "Thanks! So what do I need to work on the engines?"

    "Haha, I like you! Not only a good tech but strong, too!" Elma swang her trunk enthusiastically. "I''m a bit old fashioned and believe you need at least a rudimentary understanding of smithing to work on engines."

    "Smithing?" Flora envisioned the engine as glowing energy gizmo and couldn''t connect it to something she associated with horseshoes.

    "Yeah, if it doesn''t start, you have to hit it on the right spot!"

    Flora laughed. "Well, I heard of this repair tactic before!" And she did, Oldtimer enthusiasts told her about it. Who would have thought that 20th-century car motors and sci-fi engines had that in common?

    Finally, Flora spotted Jake. He already had a glass in hand and was in the progress of toasting.

    Flora strode over and snatched the glass from him.

    "Auntie!"

    "To the birthday girl! Cheers!" Flora exed the beverage.

    "Auntie!"

    The other technicians cheered. A second glass found its way into Jake''s hand. Flora snatched it again and pulled Jake away.

    "I need you sober!"

    "What''s up, Auntie?"

    "That''s my question to ask! I noticed you slinking around. What are you up to?"

    Jake made distressed noises and lead Flora towards a quiet corner of the room.

    "I discovered something! I don''t even know how to describe it, Auntie! It''s horrible." He tore at his hair. "I got the cutest video of Hope today, and I want her to grow up happy and save!"

    Flora nodded.

    "But how can she if there are only two ways and one is shit, and now I think the other is shit as well, you know?"

    Flora nodded again. She was only able to make sense of Jake''s ramblings because of the other scenarios, but she understood.

    "Hope has the gift. The Icemasters are cold, and the Energymasters are volatile."

    "*Bleep*! *Bleep*! Are you a psychic?"

    "No, I''m a low-level Energymaster."

    "You never told me!"

    "And you never told me that you have the gift, too! I believe we are even."

    "What? I don''t have access to the Energy."

    "The probabilities of that are really low, dear. Did you do a test? Are there tests?"

    Jake fidgeted. Flora could see that he wanted to say something but wasn''t allowed or couldn''t commit.

    "It''s okay not to tell me about Elena''s and your situation. I won''t pry."

    "*Bleep*! You know about that, too?"

    "I know nothing. All I know is that I have an awful feeling about today. Something ominous lies in the air!" Flora wasn''t good at bullshitting but tried her best.

    "Stay sober. If the shit hits the fan, call me, and we''ll build a parasol!"

    "Why a parasol?"

    "When the shit gets fanned all over the place, we duck behind it!"

    Jake scratched his head.

    "Whatever, auntie. But it kind of comforts me to know that you are an Energymaster. My trust in them waned after my discovery. But you are alright!"

    "Thanks for your confidence. But I taught myself, so I know nothing about the indoctrination of the regular path."

    "You could teach Hope!"

    "I''m old. Who knows if I even can hold a plasma sword, when Hope reaches the required age for learning.

    "Then teach me, and I teach Hope! Maybe the Icemasters *bleep*ed up when they tested me!"

    "Alright, we try it. Let''s find a quiet room."

    "I know a great place to train!"

    The great place turned out to be the head shrine of Lady Mnoder.

    Anytime, Flora expected a debuff to appear on her HUD: "Eyesocket Instability. Stop rolling your eyes, or you will lose them!"

    At least, they made good time after Flora got through with her argument, that they would be a lot less suspect if Jake stopped walking on the tips of his toes.

    Time Limit: 51 min.

    Flora shuddered when they entered the room. Even after inhuming all the heads in the first Doom Moon attempt, they still gave her the creeps.

    "We are in the trophy room of Lady Mnoder. The heads and plasma swords belong to the enemies of the empire she had slain. She recorded all of her experiences." He pointed at the statues.

    Flora nodded. She knew the mannequin-routines too well.

    "Auntie Flow, do you think we are the good guys? Lady Mnoder is one of the most respected generals of the empire, and she sure as hell doesn''t behave like it." Jake''s big blue eyes shone with seriousness.

    "All I know is that everyone should try to be a decent being. But it''s not always easy."

    Flora to Aidan: "Warn me 1 minute before Lady Mnoder appeared the last time."

    "I''m sorry, Milady. I don''t comprehend your sentence."

    "I''m working under the assumption that her appearance is a fixed event and related to the quest-timer. Last time she appeared when the timer nearly ran out. Do you know the exact time, she made her entrance?"

    "Yes, Milady! I will notify you."

    Meanwhile, Jake had pressed a panel on the wall, and a hidden door opened. He waved her in.

    The atmosphere in the room hit Flora, like leaving an air-conditioned building in the desert. The air was crackling, and strange currents battered her body. Flora had to stop for a moment to regain her balance.

    Energy-Storm: -7 OV micro-control. - 7 OV macro-control. - 10 OV use of metallic appliance. - 15 hp/minute lightning damage. - 14 hp/minute kinetic damage.

    Flora stared at the debuff on her HUD.

    "That''s great!" she exclaimed.

    "Urg, you really are an Energymaster!" Jake had his hands on his knees and was breathing hard. "Can you teach me here?"

    Flora chuckled. "I like your attitude! You can''t even stand upright, but you want to learn. Go back to the statues and watch 5 times the one that looks like a monkey scratching its butt. Concentrate on the feeling Mnoder has when blasting her opponent." Flora didn''t have the time to conceal her knowledge.

    "How do you know?"

    Flora attempted to look as mysterious as possible and waved him away.

    While Jake went into the other room, Flora tried to locate the source of the Energy-Storm.

    The room was bare with only a round platform big enough for her to stand on in the middle. It had no windows. The only illumination came from the dark red glowing ceiling and now and then tiny lightning bolts flitting through the air.

    Flora found it hard to spot any appliances on the dark walls. Therefore she walked near them to look for any kind of mechanism.

    Soon, she found an unmarked switch.

    ''Odd press, even leave.''

    "Aidan, give me a random number between 1 and 100."

    "61, Milady."

    Flora''s finger shook, but she flicked the switch.

    The rumbling of motors hit her ears, and the wall rose up. Behind it, a curved panorama window showed the surface of the moon. Beneath it were controls similar to the H-Wing.

    "This is a spaceship!"

    This time Flora was smarter with her data security and first loaded Aidan and her firewall on her datapad. Then she tried to get access to the controls the proper way.

    "Access denied. Insufficiant clearance."

    "Do you think we can hack it, Aidan?"

    Aidan showed her where to find the tiny badge on the lock-pick.

    Name: Rising Star - Flat 5432 - Controller

    Class: Security System

    Level: 25.

    Rating: A.

    RGS: 2.

    "Yes, Milady. But the probability of getting noticed is high."

    "Okay, we refrain at the moment."

    The effects of the Energy-Storm didn''t reach to the cockpit, so Flora let down the walls again and continued her search.

    Her intuition told her to look at the platform next. Sure enough, the effects of the storm were stronger at the center of the room.

    After examining it, she noticed that you could keel over the platform. Underneath it, Flora found an engine. It looked a lot like the shield generators but glowed.

    Flora opened the casing and inspected the machine, mumbling to Aidan the similarities and differences to the standard shield generator. She even recorded her investigation.

    "What are you doing, Auntie?" Jake arrived.

    "Industry espionage. This is the generator for the Energy-Storm."

    Jake laughed and stumbled over.

    "Do you want to take a look or training?"

    He chose training, and Flora fetched Aidan''s console and the Stehaufmaennchen.

    !

    The Stehaufmaenchen slid across the floor.

    "That''s a spell similar to the Kinetic Blast you watched. I''m most familiar with this skill, so we start with it."

    Flora described the feeling of the spell and the intend while casting it. Furthermore, she ordered Aidan to show a hologram of its diagram.

    The hologram was flickering and grainy because of the Energy-Storm, but Jake was a technician. It helped him looking at charts.

    "Gather some energy and push!"

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    "Push!"

    The tumbler was swaying because of the Energy-Storm, so Flora couldn''t judge if the spell hit, but she thought she felt something.

    "Great first try! Go closer and repeat it!"

    "Push!" Jake shouted.

    This time the tumbler clearly moved a few centimeters backward.

    You gained the ability: Teaching.

    Achievement: The benefits of teaching (repeatable): You taught Magical Push: + 1 Level to Magical Push.

    "Congratulation! You got it!"

    Jake stared dumbly at the tumbler and then at his hands.

    Meanwhile, Flora checked the timer; only 10 minutes were left.

    "Let''s leave. I''ve got one of these feelings again."

    "But, but, but ..." Jake stammered. "I can use the Energy!"

    "I know, dear, and I''m happy for you. But please, believe me, we have to go."

    Flora saw Jake''s eyeballs rolling up, and then he crumbled. Before she realized what was happening, she was moving and caught him.

    "Burned Toast!"

    After fetching a health potion, Flora fed it to him. He spluttered and coughed most of it up, but at least he regained consciousness.

    "One minute until the estimated time of arrival, Milady."

    Flora joined Jake''s groaning.

    Grunting, she hosted him over her shoulder and left the chamber. Her eyes darted to the elevator, calculating the time it would need to take them down. She decided against it and went to the back of the room. Her old spot was on the way to the energy-storm chamber, so she chose the other side this time.

    "Jake, can you hear me? Drink this potion. It will help you!"

    Now, Jake managed to keep it down, and color returned to his face.

    Mumbling, he tried to sit up.

    "The elevator is moving. Someone is coming. Please stay quiet."

    Knowing that Jake possessed the worst timing possible, she took his hand and pushed it against the m-route. Then, she duct-taped it to the stature.

    The elevator doors opened, and Flora got a Deja Vu.

 42 42. Doom Moon 3 - Escape

    Flora crouched on the floor.

    Next to her lay Jake with his hand duct-taped to the statue.

    Suddenly, Flora noticed the smell of herbs coming from Jake. His uniform was soiled with the spilled health potion.

    Flora closed her eyes when Lady Mnoders steps came closer.

    ''Please, let her have a bad sense of smell!"

    Mnoder passed them and entered the Energy-Storm chamber.

    ''Did I pack everything?''

    Checking her inventory didn''t help. Though she found the Stehaufmaennchen, she wasn''t sure about how many empty vials she had before giving Jake the potions.

    Flora pushed the panic down and steadied her breathing.

    ''This adventuring is too stressful! I could be designing some nice toaster instead of crouching behind a minotaur statue and having its butt in front of my face!''

    The door opened again, and Mnoderer entered the room again.

    ''Did she get the call, or did she notice something amiss?''

    Of course, Jake opened his eyes in just this moment. It had to be a talent!

    Flora put her index finger over her lips, signaling him to be quiet. His mouth opened.

    "Auntie?"

    Suppressing the urge to slap him, she stood up.

    "Yes, the repairs are looking very good! I believe we are finished!" Flora really believed that they were finished, but not with work, more with their lives!

    "Who do we have here?" Lady Mnoder purred.

    "Technician Flowers, Ma''am, and this is my colleague, Jake ..." Flora glanced at his badge. ''Wrong time not knowing the surname of your best friend in the world!''

    Name: Jake Heavenstormer

    Flora started coughing. This was too much!

    Class: Technician

    Level: 25

    Rating: B

    RGS: 3

    "Well, well, well." Mnoder stalked towards them. "These are my quarters, and every repair request gets approved by me personally. I haven''t ordered any repairs for a long time."

    "Then, it was overdue." Flora nodded weakly.

    "Unfortunately, I''ve got no time for games."

    Flora couldn''t be more familiar with Lady Mnoder''s starting movement of brandishing her plasma sword.

    Immediately, she sprang back.

    "Jake is your son!"

    ''Hey it worked once, why not try it again.''

    Two heads whipped from focussing on her to each other in an identical motion.

    "Aren''t family reunions just great! I always get teary-eyed by them. Come on, you two, hug!" Flora rambled. She broke easily from too much suspense. Her coping mechanism involved bad puns and absurd comments and sometimes horrendous designs.

    "Your eyes!"

    "I don''t know you! My mother is dead!"

    "No, your father is dead. I''m quite sure about it. I killed him extra thoroughly." Mnoder pointed to a statue. Flora winced. That was one of the most brutal. She beheaded the guy then halved his head. The two halves were even displayed.

    "But I really would like to get to know you better. Let''s have a mother-son bonding!"

    "I do mother-son dates on Thursdays with my son. I can highly recommend them!" Flora added. "But how did you lose contact with your son?"

    "Of course, I wouldn''t do all the screaming baby stuff, so I had a nurse. She stole him and ran to the terrorists. Her name was Maria."

    Jake gasped but then shook his head. "A lot of women are named Maria!"

    "Denial, he will overcome it with time and patience," Flora commented. "So everyone is happy, let''s fight some terrorists."

    "How do you know that the terrorists are attacking, dear."

    "I overheard your call."

    "The chamber is soundproof."

    "Then how would I know that you have had a call?"

    "You aren''t as simple as you seem, Champion of Evailyn."

    Flora pondered over it. Was she simple? Yes, she was! ''Give me a toaster to build, and I''m delighted, give me a grilled cheese toast, and I''m happy enough.''

    Meanwhile, the quest had appeared.

    Quest: Survive and maintain the defensive structures on the Doom Moon

    Reward: Bonus Crafting XP

    Penalty: Scenario stops

    Current status of the turrets: 91 %

    Time Limit: 45 min.

    Difficulty: B

    But Flora was too curious to leave the scene at the moment.

    "Are you Energy-sensitive, son?"

    "The Icemasters denied it. They tested me." He groaned. "Now, it makes sense why they were so interested in me! I guess we really might be related. But no, no, no. Why?"

    "They know nothing. They feel nothing." She pulled a crystal out of her pocket and gave it to him. "Touch it with your bare hand."

    The crystal shone in multicolored lights.

    "Great talent for kinetics, mediocre for ice, good for lightning and magnetism. Ah, like mother, like son! Unfortunately, the granny is right. We have to fight some terrorists now."

    The scene changed to the turrets, Handy, Forky, and Clyde and of course, the attacking fighter jets.

    "That went rather well, don''t you think, Aidan? Find out where Jake is at the moment."

    Meanwhile, Flora deactivated three of the ten turrets.

    "Those things have shitty heat management. No point in letting all of them shoot at one jet. We switch them up."

    "Great idea, Milady," Forky said.

    Methodically, Flora scanned the turrets and delegated the repairs.

    The timer ticked down fast while Aidan searched, and Flora hustled.

    "The operation schedule doesn''t include Jake, Milady."

    "Maybe Mnoder took him with her. Find her." Flora said while exchanging a propeller.

    "Lady Mnoder participates in the space-combat. She flys H-Wing H1. There is no additional passenger registered."

    "Try to contact Jake via the datapad."

    "His datapad is deactivated."

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    "What, there is no rule as long as you don''t take out the battery you can be tracked like with the old mobile phones?"

    Aidan promised to look into it.

    "I remote activated his datapad and called him, but he didn''t pick up Milady. The datapad is located in the prison cells of the adjacent sector."

    Currently, Flora lay under a turret and ground that part of the guidance rails that got jammed three times already.

    Flora stood up and turned to the robots. "I''m sorry, dears. I have to break a friend out of prison. Please keep busy and rotate the activation." She paused. "If you want, you may join me."

    "I''ll come! I would love to do a prison break! So much time passed since my last one!" That was Clyde. The others agreed as well.

    "Lead the way, Aidan!"

    Current status of the turrets: 94 %

    Time Limit: 11min 21sec.

    The crew of one human, one AI, and three robots sprinted to the corridors of the Doom Moon. Forky had difficulties with keeping up, so Flora put him into her inventory. Thankfully, S25 was close.

    When they entered the right corridor, rows of cells awaited them.

    "Jake?" Flora called out.

    "Here!"

    "Here!"

    "Here!"

    "Auntie Flow? My mother locked me up! Can you believe the nerve of that woman?"

    "Hey, Auntie. I''ve been a good boy, too. And my mother always hated me, can you free me, as well?" A guy with screechy intonation shouted.

    Flora rolled her eyes and went to the cell with Jakes''s voice.

    Inserting the lock-pick, she started to hack the door.

    ''Toaster-Armey march! Swing your egg-beaters and conquer the firewall!''

    Finally, the door opened.

    "Hi, Auntie," Jake answered, clearly depressed and sulking. "I wished my mother was a bit more motherly!"

    "I''m sure she only wants you to be safe. Probably. I''m sorry, Jake, but we have to hurry. This planet will blow up in a few minutes, and we have yet to steal a spacecraft. And with steal, I mean borrow, of course."

    "Um, whatever you say. But could we free Esau, too? He is in the cell next to mine."

    "You made friends in prison?"

    "No, he''s an old friend of Elena." Jake shrugged. "And an Icemaster, but one of the nice ones."

    Flora hacked the next door as well.

    Esau turned out to be a small goblinesque creature. He waved at her friendly.

    "A pleasure to meet you! Jake claimed that you are a nice Energymaster! I never met one before. I mean, I did meet Energymasters, just not nice ones!"

    "Well, I''ve never met any Icemasters at all. I''m not even sure about the difference between them and Energymasters. Maybe you can tell me a bit about it on the way?"

    "How remarkable! I thought to kill Icemasters was an initiation ritual for Energymasters."

    They started jogging in the direction of the hangar Flora already knew.

    Suddenly, Esau stopped. "Our gear is behind this door. Would you open it, please?"

    After a quick look at the timer, Flora conceded.

    Current status of the turrets: 84%

    Time Limit: 3min 21sec.

    The room was full of lockers with numbers on them. Flora followed Esau and opened the compartment to his right because Jake''s cell was right of Esau''s. There, she found a multitool and a datapad and threw it to Jake.

    While Esau donned a chest armor and his plasma sword, Flora opened three more lockers. One contained only a multitool, the other a multitool, and a lock-pick, but the third was a jackpot with two identical plasma sword hilts.

    Name: Right Wing of the Thunderbird

    Type: Plasma-Sword

    Base Damage: ~5

    Tier: 1

    Rating: A

    Flora handed the Left Wing of the Thunderbird to Jake and pocketed the rest.

    They resumed their journey to the hangars. Now and then, a robot transport crossed their way, but otherwise, the corridors were empty.

    "So, what can you tell me about Icemasters?"

    "Maybe we should postpone our conversation to when we are safer."

    "Alright, but could you at least show me an Icemaster spell, please?"

    Esau catapulted in front of the group.

    "That was Kinetic Stride and not an Icemaster skill."

    "Great perception!" Esau said, smiling, but Flora wasn''t amused. That guy was playing his cards close to his tiny body.

    Name: Esau Yatim

    Class: Icemaster

    Level: 25

    Rating: B

    RGS: 2

    When they reached the hall, Jake''s datapad started to beep.

    At the same, Flora got the quest completion-message.

    Quest completed: Survive and maintain the defensive structures on the Doom Moon

    Reward: Bonus Mechanics and Electronics XP

    Current status of the turrets: 81%

    Difficulty: B

    Completion: A

    Time until the explosion of the Doom Moon: 5min.

    "Son, leave the Moon. It is going to explode in 5 minutes!" Mnoder sounded out of the datapad.

    "So now, you care about me? I can do it without you, mother!" He slammed the disconnect-button.

    "Was that Lady Mnoder?" Esau asked. His voice lost every trace of amicability.

    Jake''s eyes widened to the size of toasts.

    "Maybe?" he asked.

    Brandishing his sword, Esau attacked Jake without another word.

    "Boys! Stop fighting!" Flora pulled Jake back. If she hadn''t Esau''s strike would have hit Jake''s neck, now it graced his collarbone and left a frosted gash in the technician uniform.

    "Explain yourself!" Flora activated her plasma sword.

    "Mnoder killed my family, and I will kill hers." He attacked Jake again, who tried to parry with the plasma sword, which didn''t work.

    !

    Flora''s spell hit him in the stomach, and he stumbled a step back. But his sword had already sliced through Jake again.

    "I thought you were my friend! Do you think I like that she is my mother?" Jake screamed.

    !

    A whitish light surrounded Esau, and it reflected the spell at Flora.

    Flora got hit and felt deeply humiliated by it.

    Flora to Aidan: "Would I hurt Jake if I used Energy-Storm?"

    "No, Milady. I defined him as friendly."

    !

    The storm washed across the area. Although Flora could spot no difference in Esau''s movement, his shield got pelted with little lightning bolts. Aggressively, he slashed at Jake again.

    This time Jake dodged and struck back. He hit the shield, and his sword bounced back.

    Flora''s mana diminished at a visible pace while she channeled the storm. At least, now she saw that Esau''s sword shook.

    "Auntie, flee! I hold him back!" Jack exclaimed, dodging the next blow.

    "Stupid child! Concentrate on fighting!" Flora couldn''t believe the cheesiness of this guy! "Besides, I''m the old mentor! That means I have to die, and you have to avenge me!"

    Finally, the glowing shield burst.

    A multitool flew at Esau from his left. Handy had joined the fight!

    Simultaneously, Jake attacked him from the right.

    Esau shielded his head from the tool, but couldn''t get away from Jake''s sword.

    Meanwhile, Clyde had positioned himself behind him but at a distance of a couple of meters.

    "Push him to me, Auntie!" he transmitted.

    !

    Esau slid back, directly into Clyde''s glowing welder.

    According to the sound, Clyde landed a solid hit on his head. Even his hair started to burn!

    Single-mindedly focussed on Jake, he jumped back. His leg glowed blue and hit Jake in the chest. Coughing, Jake went down.

    Esau raised his sword over his head, and its blue glow brightened.

    "No!" Magical Push was still on cooldown!

    !

    The spell caused Esau to stumble back again.

    !

    This time, Flora aimed at the plasma sword and hit!

    The sword spun out of his hand. Flora had hoped for this to happen. Immediately, she cast Magical Pull.

    Esau''s hand reached out, and he tugged with his magic as well.

    The sword''s flight slowed down but still made its way to Flora.

    The fallen Jake kicked up towards the knee of the Icemaster.

    That made him lose his concentration, and the sword landed in Flora''s hand.

    Esau screamed in pain, but his attention was still on Flora.

    !

    Though the spell didn''t lift him above the ground, he still clawed at his throat.

    Jake used the time to swipe away Esau''s legs. When he went down, Jake rolled on top of him and started to pummel the small creature.

    "Burned toast and stale jam! This moon is going to explode any minute, can''t we postpone the fighting?" Flora sighed.

    "Milady, don''t relax! Esau is a sarge type opponent. I estimate that he still has over 2/3 of his HP left!"

    "Are we fighting with wads of cotton wool, or how big is the health-pool of a Sarge?"

    "Level 25, with recommended group-size 2 => between 1000 and 4000, Milady. But I assumed he is on the lower end of the spectrum because of his figure."

    Flora looked with wide eyes at her meager 260 HP.

    "Never! We''ll die together!" Esau shouted and buckled under Jake.

 43 43. Doom Moon 3 - Conclusion

    "Never! We''ll die together!" Esau shouted and buckled under Jake.

    A wave of cold energy threw Flora, Jake, and the robots back.

    Esau sprang up and sprinted towards Flora.

    !

    He flew directly in front of Jake''s feet, who knocked him over the head with his multitool.

    Before the question ''Why doesn''t Jake use his plasma sword?'' finished forming in Flora''s head, Esau came up with it in his hand.

    Jake had lost his sword!

    Instead of aiming for Jake, Esau whirled around and sprang over Flora. At the last moment, Flora ducked, causing his foot to miss her head. Still, the icy aura affected her.

    Cold: 2 x Reduced speed. Time remaining: 10 sec.

    Noticeably slowed down, Flora turned around to face him.

    Meanwhile, Esau landed two hits on her, not only impeding her further but also chipping off huge chunks of her health. She only had 2/3 of her pool left!

    Without the effects of Energy-Storm, the superior agility of the goblinesque young man showed.

    Despite struggling to comprehend the changes in the combat situation, Flora managed to lash out with both of her swords.

    Though she dodged Esau''s next swing partly, it still left another icy gash in her uniform.

    Light Chill: 1 x Reduced speed. Time remaining: 10 sec.

    "Milady, cast Force-Field! You can''t sustain the damage!"

    !

    Of course, Flora felt her wounds, but it was less painful than her age-related ailments in real-life. The movement restriction caused by the Cold- and now Light Chill-debuff bothered her more. The experience resembled being underwater, fighting against the resistance of the liquid.

    Esau''s slash arrived a second after the shield took form and bounced off it.

    Pressing her advantage, Flora aimed for his unprotected left arm. With astonishing speed, he flipped over one of her swords. Immediately, she corrected the path of the second, and it went through his torso, leaving a burn mark on his armor.

    Trusting in her shield, she ignored his next move and lashed out.

    Unfortunately, her confidence was misplaced. The shield burst, and Esau''s blade found its way into her stomach while her swords crossed his neck.

    Panicking, she cast Refresh.

    You are currently in a scenario with restricted skills. You can''t use Refresh.

    ''Right! Stupid! But I need health.''

    She tried to fetch a potion.

    You are currently in a fight. You can''t access your inventory in combat.

    The system-messages and her inventory hindered her view. Thus she misjudged Esau''s next strike and earned an icy laceration on her shoulder.

    ''Stupid, Stupid, Stupid! I need thinking time! And space!''

    At last, Jake reached them, swinging his multitool and giving Flora a tiny respite.

    Her HUD showed Magical Push, Force-Field, and Kinetic Shield on cooldown.

    ''I didn''t even know that Magical Push had a Cooldown! Why Kinetic Shield? I haven''t used it! Don''t get distracted! Move!''

    !

    Flora vaulted over the boys and subsequently cast Kinetic Stride in Clyde''s direction.

    !

    She did only an awkward hop. The spell had failed!

    Sensing that Esau was hot on her heels, or maybe in his case, cold on her heels, she twisted around.

    Handy had found a tool-box from some gawking technicians and started throwing again, while Jake sprinted after Esau.

    !

    The spell caused Esau to stagger, but he still reached melee distance and swung his sword at her again. Simultaneously, he activated his shield.

    ''I don''t need spells! I have worked using magic for years without even knowing about them! ''

    "You are toast! Because I''m the queen of toasters!"

    Electric energy crackled around Flora, making her hair stand up straight while flashes of lightning surrounded her.

    You gained the skill: Supercharge.

    You learned the skill without guidance: + 1 OV to the skill.

    All her movement restrictions not only vanished, but she felt faster than ever before. Mana pounded through her veins and swords, and she started to dance with Esau.

    Gracefully, she dodged his swings and weaved her blades through his body, only slightly slowed down by his shield.

    Jake pummeled him from the back. Handy continued to pelt him with hammers, screwdrivers, and spanners. Even Clyde joined again with his welder. Soon, Esau''s shield vanished.

    "Push!" Esau screamed while turning around, and Jake flew several meters away.

    Instantly, Flora sized the chance and got in a solid hit through his neck, leaving behind a red welt.

    The Icemaster ducked under her second strike and curved his swing towards Clyde. With only one hit, he cleaved the robot in half.

    "Clyde!"

    Flora felt an emptiness in her mind where the connection to Clyde used to exist. All energy left her.

    Too slow, she sidestepped his next attack and caught his sword with her hips.

    Her foot came down on a spanner, and she slipped, crashing to the floor.

    With wide eyes, she stared at Esau looming over her. Her health bar only contained a tiny bit of points, and her mind drew only blanks.

    He raised his sword with both hands, and icy energy stormed along his arms into his blade.

    Suddenly, a shot rang out, and a red flower blossomed in the middle of Esau''s forehead.

    Uncomprehending what had happened, Flora watched him fall next to her, dead.

    "Not a too shabby fight for some technicians and repair-bots." An unfamiliar voice commented.

    Flora looked up and saw a squad of soldiers surrounding the smirking man who had spoken. He even wore a cape!

    Name: Julio Seguro

    Title: Commander

    Class: Officer

    Level: 100

    Rating: B

    RCS: 3

    Before Flora could thank him, he had already marched away.

    Flora shook her head and fetched a health potion.

    "Time, Aidan?"

    "3:21, Milady."

    The fight had taken less than 2 minutes! Flora thought it lasted a lifetime. She patted Clyde''s casing and transferred his remains in her inventory.

    "Are you alright, Auntie?"

    "Yes, dear. Do you need a potion?"

    "I''m fine! Just a few scratches."

    Critically, Flora looked him over while he picked up his plasma sword. He didn''t lie: his uniform showed tears with melting ice, but the skin beneath was only slightly discolored.

    Handy confirmed that she was ready to continue, too. Albeit, she sounded timid and confused.

    "We still have to escape. Let''s find a ride."

    "Milady, pick up your loot, the glowing pile on the floor! A sarge opponent might have something good."

    Flora swept up the breastplate and started running towards the next parked H-Wing.

    Smoke billowed out of one of its wings.

    "Next!"

    Flora looked around. The hall which had been packed with spacecraft on her last visit, now only contained a few fighters. Most of them were visibly not in flight-ready condition with bots and technicians working on them.

    The only bigger vehicle, a space-shuttle shaped like a yacht, was in the process of starting its engines, but they spluttered and went out.

    Some of the staff jogged over to repair it.

    Flora, Handy, and Jake used the chance and sprinted to a half-finished abandoned jet.

    Immediately, they started to work. Twelve hands screwed, hammered, and coaxed the jet to life, more jury-rigging than repairing it.

    "That has to suffice. Get in!"

    "Not so fast." The caped man had returned. This time, his blaster aimed at Flora. "Thank you for providing me with a plane. Now, get lost."

    "Age before beauty, young man! Repair your own ride!"

    The muzzle flashed, and Flora found herself in the training-coffin.

    Due to death in the scenario, your loot got destroyed.

    We hope you enjoyed playing the scenario ''Groom the Doom Moon''. Please rate it at the Cetviwos Shop!

    Flora curled into a ball and hugged her knees.

    Getting shot at the end had been just bad luck. She was only slightly bothered by it. But the fight with the Icemaster kept repeating in her mind on a loop.

    Flora never understood hatred. Why couldn''t people just be happy and get along? Or at least have their priorities straight and value friendship above some genetics. Or at the least of the least value their own life above revenge!

    Not only the cause of the fight bothered her, the process as well. She felt awkward, holding the two plasma swords in her hands. But she had no chance to get rid of one.

    She had frozen, not only from the cold but also from the unfamiliar energies and sensations of fighting for her life. And then she messed up and tried to access her inventory in a fight again! Shaking her head, she stood up.

    Some parts of Forky and Clyde surrounded her, and she even spotted pieces of the plasma swords on the floor, but it was a far cry from the mayhem after her first visit. She had enough room to fetch a container and stuff the debris cluttering her inventory and her flat into it.

    Magical Push and Magical Pull now worked again without a cooldown. This aspect puzzled her the most. How could anyone keep track of that?

    Besides the training coffin, only the standard stock remained: a couch standing edgeways in a corner, the Cetviwos poster, and the lamp.

    Finally, she put the coffin away and checked the apartment for the last time.

    "Thank you, old lair and goodbye. I didn''t treat you well, but you did your job in keeping me safe."

    Flora ported to the new construction. The building was a simple stone block. Its only prominent feature was two rows of huge gothic windows with household appliances depicted in stained glass.

    After opening the door, she arrived in the production hall. 25x50m didn''t sound like much, but standing in the room with the soft evening light shining through the colorful glass, she felt like entering a cathedral.

    A church of toasters!

    "May the Goddess Evailyn bless this house and all the toasters, blenders, mixers, and vacuum cleaners that get created in it," Flora spoke, her voice echoing in the empty hall.

    Now in a better mood, she jogged to the other end and walked up the spiral staircase to her living quarters.

    After plugging in the training coffin, she changed the auto-mode spell to Kinetic Blast. It had won the competition of the most useful skill in the previous fight.

    Then, she entered her true home, the workshop.

    Flora glanced at the whirlpool, but then had a better idea. Dispatching her body to train plasma-sword-fighting with the dummy, she created an Iceland-inspired landscape in the simulation grounds: a snowy mountain with a cozy hot pond in it.

    Now, she could do the Scandinavian routine of getting boiled, then rolling around naked in the snow and then getting cooked again.

    After plugging in the Pageturner and the Blade-Roller-Extreme, she was ready for some analyzing and administrative tasks.

    Aidan guided her through the procedure for changing her lair officially to the new residence. There was an option to give it a name. Instantly, Flora knew what she wanted: "Cathedral of Home Appliances."

    After she registered, a blue window appeared.

    -------------------

    "Do you want to dedicate this building as a holy place for the Goddess Evailyn?" (Y/N)

    -------------------

    "What, you want the whole building? That''s too much. But we can share. You get the shop, I get the rest of the floor and the garden, and all your believers may use the production hall and the printer."

    The window blinked again.

    -------------------

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    "Do you want to dedicate MAJOR parts of this building as a holy place for the Goddess Evailyn? Not only the tiny bit you mentioned before!" (Y/N)

    -------------------

    "Alright, let''s negotiate."

    They agreed that the production hall and roof garden was open for all believers, but things Flora produced or grew belonged to her. Evailyn had the option of electing one of Flora''s creations as a holy item or holy design. It would get better stats, but Flora had to offer it to the church. When she sold other products of the design, she had to pay the church of Evailyn royalties.

    Additionally, Flora had to move to the shop. Her former living quarters would serve as a church for the Goddess Evailyn, but Flora could use the space to sell items as well, especially home appliances.

    Basically, Flora was okay with the deal. Her new room was still 12x25 meters, which was bigger than her old flat, and it thrilled her to have an actual holy toaster place next to her. And under her. And above her! And technically even her living quarters would be part of the church because Evailyn said it was too bothersome to exclude them. Still, she accepted that Flora needed a private residence.

 44 44. 3D-Printer and Class-Tree

    Next, Flora wanted to order a 3D-printer. Of course, she needed an S-rated one!

    The best one you could buy was only B-rated and cost 30 installments of 1000 VirDias.

    "Do I get it after depositing the first payment, like my new lair, or do I have to wait 30 days?"

    "You have to pay fully, Milady. But the Riverstones have a service where you can hire them to pay the installments at once. Although it will cost 1200 VirDos for a 1000 VirDias installment."

    "No, I want to pay in VirDias, but it would be funny to have the house full of Riverstones. I keep the option in mind when I miss my son. Actually, I do miss him, but I don''t want to get on his nerves with messaging all the time. And we will see each other on the day after tomorrow." Flora paused. "Where were we?"

    "You wanted to pay for the printer in VirDias."

    "Yes! And I want it now! Or at least as soon as possible."

    "Then, leveling the printer up would be the fastest solution."

    D-rated Printer = 1000 VirDias; Upgrade to C: 1000 VirDias; 25 Upgrade-Points.

    C-rated Printer = 10 x VirDias; Upgrade to B: 2 x 1000 VirDias; 25 Upgrade-Points.

    B-rated Printer = 20 x VirDias; Upgrade to A: 3 x 1000 VirDias; 50 Upgrade-Points.

    A-rated Printer = -; Upgrate to S: 5 x 1000 VirDias; 100 Upgrade-Points.

    So it was cheaper to level it up, too. Aidan made her a list of the designs she could register with the printer for leveling. A modification only counted if it raised the rating and gave one upgrade-point, a new design three, and an invention five. The points multiplied if she chose products above the needed grade.

    He estimated that she could get quickly from C to B, but had too few A-rated blueprints. Of course, she could use S-rated ones to level to A, but that would be a waste.

    Change - Rating - Type - Name

    New Design - B - Toaster - Welcome to the Metaworld!''

    Invention - S - Potion Guzzler - Leprechaun Guzzler Hat

    Modification - C - Mech-Suit - Toxic Counterflow-Training

    New Design - S - Interface template - Intensity Meter

    New Design - A - Skin - Rainbow Intensity Meter - Torso

    New Design - A - Skin - Rainbow Intensity Meter ¨C Legs

    New Design - A - Interface template - Advance warning collision handling

    New Design - SSS - Interface template - Simulation PP collision handling

    New Design - B - Jacket - Riverstone Biker-Jacket

    New Design - B - Skin - Burned toast skin

    New Design - B - Skin - Meadow

    New Design - A - Skin - Heinkel Bomber

    Invention - S - Hybrid: Vehicle/Container/Excavator - Hungry Chest

    Modification - S - Mech-suit - Ivy League

    Modification - B - Skin - Houshold-Hacking

    New Design - B - Sword - Plasma-Sword Emerald Hope

    New Design - S - Motor - Servo Scale FFV1

    New Design - S - Motor - Servo Stud FFV1

    New Design - S - Robot - Blade-Roller-Extreme

    New Design - S - Container - Library-Container

    New Design - S - Robot - Octopussy-Helper-Bot

    New Design - B - Game - Stehaufm?nnchen

    Modification - A - Game - Stehaufm?nnchen

    Flora thought that she could produce A-rated blueprints without breaking into a sweat, so she bought the D-rated printer.

    She only had one C rated modification, that raised the upgrade counter to 1/25.

    "Who would have thought that the upgrade to C might be the hardest one... Okay, I haven''t tried the others yet. But I have an idea! I need to learn to smith for the scenario. I''m sure my smithing-designs won''t be that good."

    Aidan found a few smithing teachers in the Metaworld, mostly associated with horse breeding farms. Flora decided to hire one from the Garage. She hoped they wouldn''t teach her to make horseshoes but machine parts.

    "Oh, bother! We already have after 10 p.m.! I don''t think I can learn smithing and design a few ... toaster casings? A spiral sword? By midnight! So we lose one more day!"

    Suddenly, a website opened on her HUD. It was a page of the Cetviwos-Forums, and the title was "The Millionaire''s Exemption".

    Flora scanned the text. Users complained that they had to wait 30 days to get a teleportation circle while people with over 1 000 000 VirDias could buy it instantly. They argued that it gave the ultra-rich, especially corporations who could use couriers, an unfair advantage in developing new zones.

    Flora checked her balance. Currently, she had a bit under 500k VirDias, a bit over 10k VirDos, and over 5 million in credits.

    "Thank you, Aitoshuri, but I''m only a credit millionaire."

    The text scrolled down until it reached a highlighted post written by a moderator. The post detailed that you could apply for the millionaire''s exemption if you were willing to let CentralTank audit your finances, had acquired them legally, and had assets over 100 000 VirDias.

    "Jackpot! Good job, Aitoshuri!"

    Flora filed for the exemption, rolled in the snow, and hopped back in the pool.

    "Did you make any progress on the Store-Spells, dear?"

    Another forum thread appeared on her HUD: "Lavicious at the entrance with columns".

    Flora raised her eyebrows but read the article. It made no sense at all. She understood the words, but the sentence didn''t make any sense.

    "If you want to entrance with columns your lecherous in your past or trump up a Torry with an overflow, we sit Rankaspesh in Paweben."

    "Pardon me?"

    She scanned the comments. There were just two of them:

    "Dude!" and "I want to take the same drugs as you!"

    Aitoshuri changed the language into English.

    "If you want to stoa your lewd in your back or invent Torry with a spill, we sit Rankspesh in Paweben."

    "It''s a bad pun puzzle!" Flora exclaimed. "If you want to store your loot in your bag or inventory with a spell, visit Rankspesh in Paweben. Does Paweben exist, or is it another riddle?"

    "It does exist, Milady. It''s located on the Cradle." Aidan answered, and Aitoshuri showed a map.

    "Lovely, write it on the ToDo-List, Prio B. And bump up building a generator to Prio A. I really don''t want to pay the utility bills for this place. I might have gone overboard with its size."

    Flora jumped out of the pool and did some Jiu-Jitsu exercises in the snow.

    "Aitoshuri, you take over the research of my future class tree. Concentrate on connecting Energymaster with Champion of Evailyn. Signal when you found three possible connections."

    The next bulletin board entry blocked Flora''s vision.

    "Send it to Aidan, dear. Please, present it to me, Aidan. I don''t like to read while exercising."

    "Energymaster -> Switching Swordmaster with Lightning- or Water- or Storm-Blade -> Switching Lighting- or Water- or Wind-Mage with Weather Witch -> Switching Witch with Wiccan -> Switching Wiccan with Champion of Evailyn."

    "What is this switching stuff?"

    "You can exchange a precursor of class with a successor. Energymaster and Lightning-Blade are both successors of Swordmaster. If you want both of them as active classes, you can switch out the precursor swordmaster with one of them. Instead of one active tree Swordmaster->Energymaster and one inactive tree Swordmaster->Lightning-Blade, you get Swordmaster->Lightning-Blade->Energymaster."

    "Alright, but Witchcraft? I don''t know. What are the standard spells of witches?"

    Class: Witch

    Branch: Magic

    Precursor: None

    STA: Curse of Agony: DOT + Reduced Micro-Control

    AOE: Curse of Crows: A flock of crows attack the enemies in a radius.

    DEF: Curse of the stricken Mind: Paralyzes the enemies with his fears, reduces attributes, abilities, and skills.

    MOV: Broom: Fly on a broom

    SIG: Cackle: Debuff enemies, buffs allies

    "That sounded better than I expected. I love to cackle. Do you think I could ride on a vacuum cleaner instead of a broom?"

    "Yes, Milady."

    Flora cackled to prove the point.

    "I rate it B. Ha! Take that System! I can rate things as well! Next, dear."

    A blue window appeared: "Nice attempt."

    Flora wished it away, rolling her eyes. She used up her System request in vain again.

    "Energymaster-> Switching Kinetic Mage with Animator -> Switching Animator with Necromancer -> Assigning Necromancer to Champion of Evailyn."

    "No! No, Necromancy! Rating E! But tell me about the Animator-Class."

    Class: Animator

    Branch: Magic

    Precursor: Kinetic Mage, all elemental Mages

    STA: Animate Attacker: Animates an object to attack

    AOE: Storm of Debris: Animates all debris to attack.

    DEF: Animate Defender: Animates an object to defend

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    MOV: Animate Mount: Animates an object as a ride

    SIG: Animate Companion: Animates an object to serve as a companion. It can be assigned two spells.

    "I want it! I need it! Rating A! It sounds ridiculously powerful and great to connect with so many precursors. Is it hard to acquire? Tell me more about it."

    "No, Milady, you can learn it at the starter-city of the Cradle.

    With every server opening, CentralTank hosts a competition for the creation of a new class. Animator was the winner for Server 3. A Disney-Fan created it for the 110 birthday of the Sorcerer''s Apprentice, a cartoon in the movie Fantasia. The class was very popular at the beginning, but its disadvantages showed soon.

    You have to carry around objects to animate, and inventory space is limited. With your use of containers, this would be a lesser problem, but remember, you can''t access the inventory during a fight."

    Flora rolled her eyes. "Yes, I do remember. Now."

    "Furthermore, the stats of the companion are related to the stats of the creator. Mages usually don''t have high melee stats. Therefore creating a caster is the only viable option. The level of the assigned spells is proportional to your spell level. Thus it only makes sense to give them your strongest skills. But as an elemental mage, you have the spell ''Summon Elemental''. This companion costs the same amount of mana regeneration, has fixed stats for its level, which are usually better than the percentage-based of the animation. Additionally, it has three spells, a single target attack, an AOE, and a random third.

    I have to admit that with your stats, you won''t have the problem with versatility, at least at the lower levels, and you developed a system to level spells quickly, which negates the two most significant disadvantages."

    "I raise the rating to A+, but I''m not willing to animate the dead, so we still need a connection to Champion of Evailyn. Next, dear."

    "Energymaster -> Switch Swordmaster with Knight -> Switch Knight with Paladin -> Champion of Evailyn."

    "I know the solution! I build a second mech-suit with a self-destruct button. I wear it over my normal suit, and when I press the button, I have enough parts to animate. The breastplate we could use for defensive animation, and maybe I''ll add spiky pauldrons for attacking! Write that down! Prio A as soon as I have the class!"

    "Yes, Milady. What do you think about the knight connection?"

    "Huh? I''m sorry dear, I was preoccupied."

    Aidan repeated the links, but Flora was bored by it. "Rating C. Hmm, but it sounds easy. Rating B. Any chance that I can get the required classes in the Metaworld?"

    "Very little, Milady. The church of Evailyn has no paladin trainers in the Metaworld. The whole tree is more difficult to acquire than you might think. Knight is a hard class to get. You have to place in the top three of a knights tournament. Only one knight tournament per tier takes place per day. So there are less than 5000 knights in a game with 200 million users."

    "Does the tournament contain jousting?"

    "Yes, Milady. First, you have to survive against five opponents of your level. Then five rounds of jousting and five rounds of melee fighting."

    "Now, I''m more interested in this knight stuff. Remind me to watch a tournament. Or better! Why not watch it now?"

    Flora hopped back in the pool and started a video of the knight tournament.

    After she finished, she decided to give it a try, just for the fun of it. And maybe rope Eddie in as well. She sent him the video.

    "Milady, Aitoshuri sent me more links. I believe she created the connection herself with the goal to only use classes available in the Metaworld. But I don''t know if she implemented the concept successfully."

    "Great, show it to me."

    "Champion of Evailyn -> Priest of Evailyn -> Switch Home Maker with Janitor -> Switch Mechanic with Technician -> Switch Technician with Technomancer -> Switch Technomancer with Lightning Mage -> Switch Lightning Mage with Energymaster."

    "Since when does Lightning Mage connect to Energymaster?"

    "It doesn''t at the moment. Aitoshuri believes that when you level all the Energymaster spells to level 25, it will appear."

    Flora shrugged.

    "So, from where do I get Priest of Evailyn?"

    "I don''t understand this part either, Milady. I believe you can develop Lightning Mage by yourself, maybe even Technomancer. But Priest? Usually, a Bishop has to ordain you."

    "Aitoshuri, do you believe that maybe Evailyn will help me with it?"

    A chime rang through the mountains.

    "What was that?"

    "The doorbell, Milady."

 45 45. Priesting and Smithing

    Flora opened the door and found a girl in a yellow robe standing before her.

    The girl had copper red hair and black skin. Not black like Africans, but black like a cast iron pot.

    Name: Deriga Ticet

    Class: Novice

    Title: Novice

    Level: 4

    Rating: C

    "Hello, my name ..." The girl trailed off and stared with wide eyes at Flora.

    "Hello, dear. How can I help you?"

    "My Goddess!" Deriga wanted to kneel, but Flora caught her.

    "Oh, my! That''s a misunderstanding! I''m not Evailyn! My name is Flora. You may call me Auntie Flow!"

    The girl was still gaping at her, but at least she stood straight.

    "Oh, wow. Nice to meet you, Auntie Flow! I''m aspiring to be a priestess of Evailyn. I got a vision earlier while praying. The vision said to help you build a cathedral and give you that."

    Deriga handed Flora a package. It was wrapped in colorful paper with little toasters printed on it. Flora cooed in delight.

    Carefully, she unwrapped it and found a box with a few booklets in it.

    ''Class Priestess of Evailyn''

    ''How to Consecrate a Place of Worship''

    ''Bible and Rites of Evailyn''

    "Ah, our Goddess ist the best!" Flora exclaimed.

    After opening the first booklet, a stream of messages appeared.

    -----------

    You gained the class ''Priest.''

    -----------

    Class: Priest

    Branch: Divine

    Passive:

    +1 Training efficiency modifier for Affinity / Resistance Faith

    Active:

    Bonus for Faith Skills

    -----------

    You gained the skill: Smite.

    You gained the skill: Bless and Condemn.

    You gained the skill: Fortification of Faith.

    You gained the skill: Levitate.

    You gained the skill: Thaumaturgy.

    -----------

    Flora to Aitoshuri: "Good call!"

    Then, she opened the next book, ''How to consecrate a Place of Worship''.

    After browsing through it, only one message appeared.

    -----------

    You gained the skill: Consecrate.

    -----------

    The last booklet, ''Bible and Rites of Evailyn'', was unexpectedly thin, mainly if you were used to the Christian bible. Flora scanned the book and got another skill.

    -----------

    You gained the skill: Pray.

    -----------

    "Do you want some refreshments before we crank up the holyness of this place, sweety?"

    "No, thank you, Auntie Flow."

    "Alright, but let me at least show you around that you know with what we are working."

    Flora gave Deriga a short tour and explained the function of each room.

    "Everything is empty at the moment. I just build this place today. So we have our work cut out."

    Deriga nodded, but she was smiling and marveling at the windows.

    "It''s gorgeous! I love it!"

    After browsing the booklet, Flora got a better understanding of what to do. They left the building and walked to the first corner.

    "This place is dedicated to the Goddess Evailyn." Flora chanted, and Deriga repeated it, then Flora cast the spell.

    !

    They repeated the process for the other corners and then went to the Roof.

    The roof garden was a field of bare ground with a small wall surrounding it. Flora wanted to take her time planning the outline. Maybe a few crops and some flowers, definitely some herbs, a nice stone path, a bench, and a bit of water?

    They marched from corner to corner, chanting and then went down to the first floor, where the teleportation circle was located to include this part in the consecration, too.

    Evailyn had been right. Flora wouldn''t even have known how to exclude her living quarters if she wanted to!

    After they finished their rounds, a glow washed over the whole building.

    ----------------

    Rejoice! The church of the Goddess Evailyn gained a new place of worship: The Cathedral of Home Appliances!"

    You consecrated a place of worship: + 5 levels to faith.

    You own a place of worship: + 5 levels to faith.

    You created the first place of worship of Evailyn in the Metaworld: + 1 OV to faith.

    ----------------

    A new buff appeared on Flora''s Hud:

    Consecrated Ground: + 3 OV to all attributes.

    Flora had the urge to throw a party. Only two followers celebrating seemed underwhelming for the glory of the occasion. Unfortunately, Robby, Eddie, Svetlana all had prior appointments or were offline.

    So Flora made do with just the two of them. She toasted some bread and spread Nutella over them and offered Tea, Coffee, and fruit juice.

    "Is this a toaster?" Deriga stared at the device, fascinated.

    "Yes, sweety. I really don''t know if I should be appalled by your question or flattered. Toasters are the most wonderful devices! I got a note that I built the first in the Cetviwos, so how do you know of toasters?"

    "They were mentioned in the early scriptures of the Goddess Evailyn. Unfortunately, they never took hold in our world, because everybody knows a bit of fire magic. At least enough to roast something."

    "Magic is incredible! It''s a wonder that household appliances even found their way into the Cetviwos."

    "Yes, they are not very popular. Because in most cases, magic is more accessible."

    "In my world, earth, home appliances played a huge role in the emancipation of women. The work was divided between man and woman, with homemaker activities predominantly assigned to women. Cooking, cleaning, and especially washing took the whole day. There was simply no time for women to do anything different. That changed when home appliances became cheap enough for the average household. Women could now spend their time on different endeavors."

    "Oh, wow. I can''t imagine needing a whole day for this boring stuff! I bet the church of Evailyn would be super popular in your world."

    "Are man and woman equal in your culture?"

    "I don''t know what you mean. Men are men, and women are women. There aren''t many jobs that have gender requirements. Some jobs don''t take women when they are on their period and don''t have spells to cover it, like some hunting parties. I read statistics that women have a better growth on magical attributes and men on the physical ones, but there are some great female warriors and male priests."

    "So what kind of appliances are there in the Cetviwos?"

    "All the ones depicted on the windows for areas where magic doesn''t work well, like space stations, starships, and heavy metal areas. Then magical appliances like freezing cabinets, cooking pots, hot stones, cleaning cabinets..."

    "Do you mean that the pot get''s hot and cooks its contents? And what are cleaning cabinets for?"

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    "Yes, the pot is used for cooking. A cleaning cabinet is a normal cupboard which contains runes for cleaning. When you change into your PJ, you put your worn clothing in it. Or dishes after eating. Every shelf has those runes. They are great against dust and dirt."

    "Amazing!"

    "Why do you like Toasters so much? They didn''t contribute to freeing up the women, right?"

    "Yes. Because toasters are the most luxurious of all home devices: You could eat bread without toasting it. But it''s so much more delicious toasted! Nobody needs a toaster to survive. It just increases your quality of life. Toasters are a symbol of the abundance we live in. And that''s great!"

    Deriga nodded earnestly.

    "The three main statutes of the church of Evailyn are:

    Respect the tools that improve your life

    Live in harmony with magic, technology, and magetech

    Strive to better your home and yourself."

    This time Flora nodded. The points were very Evai. They might not only relate to household devices but the coexistence with AIs as well.

    "This Nutella toast stuff is so delicious! I totally understand your fascination!"

    Flora grinned, satisfied. Another one converted to the awesomeness of toasters! But then she paused because she was unsure if she could count someone who was already a member of the church towards her conversion rate. "Why did you join the church of Evailyn?"

    Deriga''s face fell.

    "My family has the tradition that the first child serves the family, the second the country, the third the Divine. I''m the third child."

    "I''m sorry, dear. What would you rather do?"

    "Don''t misunderstand me! I love my Goddess and her cause! My passion is pottery, so the Goddess Evailyn is a good fit. I just don''t like the priest stuff, like preaching and all the politics."

    "Maybe that''s why Evailyn sent you to me! Here you''ll have time to invent some devices using pottery and probably enchanting! Please ask if you haven''t got any ideas. I''ve already got three just speaking to you about it."

    "I would love that! My rune and enchantment skills are low, though."

    Flora remembered that she had bought a book about enchanting and fetched the Library-Container.

    Not only did she find this book, but two books about runes and one about smithing as well!

    ''I really should read more.''

    Of course, Flora lent the three tomes to a beaming Deriga.

    After the meal, Flora printed a bed for Deriga. They put the interior furnishing off to the next day because it was already past Flora''s bedtime.

    Flora moved the training coffin to her new living quarters. With Aitoshuri''s connection in mind, she changed the auto-mode to Energy-Storm and added the auto-mode for Plasma-Sword-Dance for her body in the workshop.

    She rested in the meadow again, with Aitoshuri reading and Aidan playing with the Blade-Roller-Extreme. Because she had mana to spare in the simulation grounds, she activated agility boost. Just to test out if it would have any effect.

    The next morning, Flora gave Deriga a budget of 50 000 VirDias to make a list of items they needed to equip the cathedral.

    Flora knew nothing about the rites of Evai, so she was looking forward to what Deriga would come up with.

    Of course, Flora would design the central statue herself. She already had a good idea about it.

    "But, please, dear, wait with the purchases until I upgrade the printer. I want to have the best quality for our cathedral. Additionally, I want to make as much as we can ourselves because I''m a cheapskate and want to save money! But one could also argue that we should be able to furnish a house as priests of the Goddess of household appliances!" Happily, Flora rambled, while toasting breakfast. "Alright, Evailyn is not the Goddess of Do It Yourself. But the core of home appliances is that they enable you to handle minor work by yourself!"

    Deriga nodded yawning while hanging on her cup of tea for life. Flora realized that the Novice wasn''t a morning person, and much of Flora''s monologing went over her head. Therefore she cut the conversation short and ported to the Garage.

    Flora''s teacher turned out to be a grim woman with the same matte black skin color as Deriga, but only 1.30m tall and twice as thick. Flora was too much a millennial to ask if they knew each other or if Ruth Schlosser was a dwarf, but the questions burned in her thoughts.

    They started with smelting, then casting and hammering and at last grinding.

    "Ma? Are you free to speak?" Robby''s long-missed voice sounded in Flora''s mind.

    "Huhu, Sweety! Yes, I''m just grinding!"

    Robby laughed. "Look at you! Already using gaming terms!"

    "What gaming terms? I''m taking smithing lessons, and at the moment, I''m grinding down a metal stick."

    Robby coughed. "Never mind, my bad. I thought you were slaying mobs."

    Flora shrugged and smiled. Then she realized that Robby couldn''t see her.

    "So everything is set for tomorrow? Do I have to bring special equipment for our trip to the caverns?"

    "Can you breathe underwater?"

    "No!"

    "I''ll send you the skill. You could buy some oxygen potions as well, just in case your mana runs out. Swimming gear, of course, is a must. The water is quite cold. Therefore a wetsuit will serve you well."

    "Concentrate! You have to feel the metal and not peel it like a banana!" Ruth Schlosser bellowed.

    "Alright. Do you have some furniture in the guild store? I need tables, chairs, a sofa, maybe a bed, some rugs and a kitchen for my new lair."

    "We do. The tour starts at 10 o''clock and ends at noon. Afterward, I want to collect some things in the caverns, but then I''m free. I''ll show you the selection, and I''ll help you to transport the stuff to your lair."

    They said goodbye, and Flora focussed on her lesson again.

    Afterward, she went to the manufacturing line.

    Daily Quest: Stand in line (The Garage)

    Description: Join the manufacturing line for the hoover quad. Report to Hangar 34 to get your place.

    Rewards: Reputation with the Garage

    Difficulty: B-E

    In the hall, she swiped her badge to check-in. A menu appeared, and she selected that she wanted a smithing job of any difficulty.

    There she found metal sheets and a manual that told her in which shape the should be.

    Flora shrugged and got to work. Cutting the sheets one by one, polishing the edges, and cheating with the spell Transform when errors occurred, she finished the quest.

    "Milady, here you can acquire the classes Mechanic, Electrician, and Technician. And most importantly, if you impress the examiner, you get the questline for Technomancer."

    "Let''s dazzle them!"

    Flora found the room for the examination behind a shimmering portal door. Before entering, she put away the mech-suit. The metal handicap in the Garage was high, which was proper training, but some spells turned out wonky. For the examination, she wanted to perform at peak.

    The tester was a middle-aged man with dark blue skin and black hair named Foreman Snoralga. After shaking hands, he pointed to a workbench with some parts and a blueprint.

    "Assemble that in 10 minutes, and you are good to go."

    He looked around to locate his chair and sat down.

    Meanwhile, Flora had finished the job.

    When he looked at the workbench, he sprang up.

    "Did you cheat?"

    "No, sir."

    "Deep-sea monster dung! Here are some new parts, lady!"

    This time, Snoralga remained standing with his eyes glued to Flora''s hands. Five seconds later, the next machine was done.

    Carefully, he tested the propeller.

    "Perfect! Impressive. You are here for electrician and technician, too, right? Let''s see how you do in these departments!"

    Flora aced the following tests, as well.

    "Give me your badge. I''ll unlock the libraries for you. There you can find some handy mana skills and blueprints." He swiped the badge over a device. "Listen, Lady. You did some good work with the test and the dailies, but to know for sure if you are the right one for the job, you have to complete a weekly quest. Those damn MI guys are breathing down my neck and giving me lip about the quality of the people I have sent them! I see you registered a bot for the Robo-Melee. If you do well, come back, and I have an opportunity for you."

    "Sure, boss. I''m looking forward to Saturday''s fights!" Flora grinned.

    -----------

    You gained a new class: Mechanic.

    Class: Mechanic

    Branch: Technology/Crafting

    Passive:

    +1 Training efficiency modifier for Ability Mechanics

    Active:

    Bonus for Technology Skills related to mechanics

    Bonus for Crafting Skills related to mechanics

    -----------

    You gained a new class: Electrician.

    Class: Electrician

    Branch: Technology/Crafting

    Passive:

    +1 Training efficiency modifier for Ability Electronics

    Active:

    Bonus for Technology Skills related to electronics

    Bonus for Crafting Skills related to electronics

    -----------

    You gained a new class: Technician.

    Class: Technician

    Branch: Technology/Crafting

    Passive:

    +1 Training efficiency modifier for Ability Mechanics

    +1 Training efficiency modifier for Ability Electronics

    +1 Training efficiency modifier for Ability Smithing

    Active:

    Bonus for Technology Skills

    Bonus for Crafting Skills

    -----------

    Flora looked over the passive bonuses for Technician and discovered that you could connect the class to Smith.

    "Can I do the smithing examination, as well? I just started to learn it today, but these tests seemed to be simple enough."

    The guy shrugged. Although Flora needed nearly the full 10 minutes, she managed to finish hammering out a dagger, and the next class notifications appeared.

    -----------

    You gained a new class: Smith.

    Class: Smith

    Branch: Crafting

    Passive:

    +1 Training efficiency modifier for Ability Smithing

    Active:

    Bonus for Crafting Skills related to smithing

    -----------

 46 46. Plans

    "I have to admit, I feel stressed out," Flora said to her AIs while flipping over a park bench.

    Today''s quest in Tricky Beach demanded her to jump over obstacles.

    "Furnishing the cathedral, leveling up the printer, building the class tree, giving Aitoshuri a body aka having a robot helper, preparing for the hero entrance, saving Jake, my dailies ... I want to read some books, especially on runes. There is something in the back of my mind nagging that they are important. I haven''t even looked at my ToDo-list for a while because I don''t have time for it!"

    She kicked off a ramp, spun in the air around her vertical and horizontal axis, flying over a flower beet. Because she landed transversal to her momentum, she finished the move with a safety roll.

    "Should we go over the ToDo-List now, Milady?"

    "No!" Flora hopped on a rail, sloping down a flight of stairs. "Or Yes? I mean, why not? I''m already overstrained. One more toast won''t short-circuit the toaster! Just rattle it down, dear."

    "

    - A - Build a generator

    - A - Leveling swimming and climbing

    - A - Build a mech-suit with a self-destruct button

    - B - Research the standard HUD settings.

    - B - The advantage of having a pet and figure out if you can have machines like toasters as pets.

    - B - Research beginner tips, especially recommendation on what you should shortly do after you enter the Metaworld and before you enter the Cradle.

    - B - We need a robot arm for you to help out

    - C - Find a way to hurt Flora

    - C - Find a way to train while doing other stuff

    - C - Test if it is really impossible to modify items from the shop

    - C - Look into Tennis for amending the Rainbow intensity

    - C - Sponsored activities: Coke

    - C - Smaller chest for tunnels with essentials

    - C - What are runes?

    - C - Add a one-directional valve on the mouthpiece that no water can enter

    - C - Build a Walking stick

    - D - Bully Robby into letting Flora have a spin in a toaster.

    - D - Figure out a way to do magic in the training-coffin

    - E - The price of stamina potions. "

    "That doesn''t look bad. Most of the things were already on my mind. I forgot about the Tennis-Skin. Remind me to amend the Rainbow-Intensity-Meter and print some sacks and small boxes as soon as we come home. I''m sick of searching for stray micro parts in the large chests. In the last scenario, I gathered several plasma swords and multitools. If I had put them in separate boxes, I would have an easier time puzzling them together."

    Flora vaulted over a wall and ran up a second wall as high as she could. Then she pushed off, doing a backflip, landing on the smaller fence she just had crossed. With flapping her arms, she balanced herself and looked down.

    "I had aimed to jump over it, but landing on the wall is actually more awesome. I bet I wouldn''t get it right if I tried, at least not on the first attempt."

    Butterfly-Kicking off the edge, she arrived at the ground again and resumed running.

    "Let''s look at from the perspective of deadlines. I prioritized the skin because it''s a business opportunity. They fly away if you don''t feed them. The only hard deadline we are facing is the quest from Evailyn on Monday. I just have to arrive at her temple. I don''t want to jinx it, but it seems doable with a minimum of prep."

    "Take the next street on the right, Milady."

    Turning sharply, Flora touched the walls of the alleyway, before reaching for a low hanging rail. First, she just hung from it, and then she started swinging gently, enjoying the motion.

    "The plan still contains to do a Hero''s Entry at the Cradle on Sunday. So what do we need for that?"

    "People posted lists for the Hero''s Entrance in the forums, Milady. Should I read you the most popular one?"

    "Yes, great idea! Aitoshuri, send him the list you think is the most useful. If they differ, read both, starting with the most popular one."

    Aidan began with the introduction. The author emphasized that the Hero''s Entrance was difficult, but that the only thing you could lose was the time you needed to travel to the capitol for the regular experience.

    Then, the recommendations started.

    Attributes:

    Physical Vigor at least on Level 25, bolster it with equipment to an operative value of 20 for 200 health points.

    "Check!"

    Strength and agility on Level 25, if you use ranged weapons, dexterity as well.

    "Check!"

    Skills:

    A 10 sec plus Crowd Control skill. Better two of them that don''t share a cooldown.

    "What''s crowd control?"

    "It''s a gaming term for changing the combat readiness of the opponents. Examples are freezing, stunning, imprison, or transforming them into sheep."

    Flora giggled, but then remembered that she was talking to an AI.

    "Wait! Was that a joke, or can you really transform people into sheep?"

    "The spell is called Sheep and can be learned in the scenario ''Shepherd, herd the Sheep!''. It is one of the scenarios on our list."

    "We have to go over that list as well. How long does the scenario take?"

    "30 minutes to complete it and get the spell. I asked Statistica: Player''s need on average 15h 32min until they manage to beat it. Aitoshuri prodded me to ask how long if they have a suitable companion like an octopus with a multitool, and the average goes down to 3h 12min."

    "Interesting! Does Sheep qualify as 10sec crowd control? And do I have additional spells that qualify?"

    "Yes, to the first and no to the second, Milady. Magical Push and Pull count as CC, but not as 10sec ones. The article recommends using traps. You can acquire the skill at the Hunting Lodge."

    Flora nodded and swang of the bar with a backflip.

    "Start a list with preparation for the entrance. What''s next?"

    Strong single target ranged skill.

    "Is Kinetic Blast strong? I haven''t tried Smite yet. And I don''t understand Energy-Choke! Add to the list going over the descriptions of all my skills and how cooldown works. Please, change the notifications. I want to see a short description of skills and their cooldown when I get them."

    "Kinetic Blast and Smite have the same base damage of 10. But Smite scales with magical micro-control, while Kinetic Blast scales with magical power and magical macro control. At the moment, Kinetic Blast is more effective, because your affinity is higher, but the secondary effect of faith spells is very good. Faith spells increase the damage taken of an enemy or decrease the damage received of an ally besides buffing or debuffing Intend."

    "Urg, too much information, sweety. Do you mean Kinetic Blast is better now, but longterm Smite is better?"

    "For pure damage, yes, but the Hero Entrance is a Solo endeavor. The secondary effect ''push back'' might be better for that than a few percent more damage."

    Protection or healing skill. Both if possible, and health potions

    "Check! Write putting health potions in the smaller box on the list."

    Detect Traps (available at the Hunting Lodge)

    "Uh, yes, we need that, I don''t want to walk into traps!"

    Suddenly, Flora found herself surrounded.

    "Boo!"

    Flora shrieked and sprang in the air.

    The gang of teenies laughed.

    "Hey, Auntie Flow!"

    "How are you rollin''?"

    "Yeah! I scared a Champion!" PsySam exclaimed.

    The teenies from the HoppingChoir greeted Flora.

    "Hello, guys! Don''t give me a heart attack!" Flora clutched at her chest. Those pesky teens who still believed that they were immortal thought she was joking and laughed again.

    "Do you have the ''Second-longest Rail'' as weekly too?" Morty asked.

    "What? No. I think." Flora to Aidan: "I picked up another weekly, what was it?"

    Quest: Climbing the Tree (Trick Beach)

    Description: Get ten fruits from the Tricky Tree.

    Rewards: Tricky Tree Brooch, Reputation with Trick Beach

    Penalty: None

    Difficulty: C

    "We do! Seigen will try for the 66 achievement!"

    "Go for it, Seigen!"

    "What do you have to do for this achievement?" Flora asked.

    "You have to do 66 Tricks on the second-longest rail!"

    Gesticulating with enthusiasm, the teenies spoke over each other, trying to outshout their peers, but Flora managed to piece the situation together.

    "So this rail is 666 m long, goes from this hill down to the sea, and you have to do 66 tricks while sliding down?"

    "Yes! You got it!"

    "A trick per 10m doesn''t sound too hard, but I bet you pick up quite a bit of speed. You probably have to do a trick per second in the end. That''s a challenge!"

    "Yeah! But Seigen trained for it!"

    "Why are you here, Auntie?"

    "I''m going to learn climbing."

    "Haha! We''ll take the elevator."

    They arrived at the foot of the cliff.

    Flora glared at the elevator. She hated it when tracking lodges had roads or gondolas attached to them. Of course, she knew that they needed supplies. But when she arrived sweating in her tracking clothes after walking up a mountain for a few hours, she didn''t want to meet women in high heels. It diminished her feeling of accomplishment and replaced it with the certainty that the whole endeavor had been futile and unnecessarily hard.

    The rockface looked prepared for beginner climbers. The tracks were marked according to their difficulty. Of course, Flora chose the easiest, but she wasn''t sure if she should put away the Counter-Flow mech-suit. It was 200 kg of additional weight and hindered her movement! But that was its job. Flora sighed. The teenies laughed and said good-bye, and Flora wished Seigen good luck with the achievement.

    Flora put her foot in a nook and grabbed on the first handhold, hoisting herself up.

    "Oh, dear. Continue with the list to distract me from my stupidity."

    "Please take notice that you could end up anywhere on the Cradle. Access to vendors or the marketplace might be impossible.

    Equipment:

    - Health potions, Regen potions

    - Camping equipment

    - Rope

    - Food

    - Flashlights and torches

    Special Equipment:

    - Warm Clothes for cold places

    - Swimming attire / Underwater breathing items

    - Protection against fire, cold, radiation, toxicity, other elements."

    "Good points. We have most of the list already in the chests. Let''s add the rest. Why flashlights and torches? Buy a waterproof headlight, 20 of the potions Robby mentioned, and a wetsuit now. We might need it for tomorrow."

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    "There are areas where magic is restricted, and areas where the use of technology is limited, Milady."

    "I forgot about that! Horrible!"

    Meanwhile, Flora had climbed a few meters. Her stamina bar was sinking rapidly, but she got the message she had anticipated.

    -------------------

    You gained the ability: Climbing

    -------------------

    Flora jumped down and took a break.

    "The next section talks about riddles and says that there is no way to prepare for them."

    "I hate riddles. We hope for the best. And buy a flamethrower! Forget about that! I''ll build one!"

    "I''m sorry, Milady. I already placed the order."

    "No problem, dear. You can never have too many flamethrowers!"

    Flora started to climb again, while Aidan read Aitoshuri''s link.

    Preparation for the Hero''s Entrance:

    - Sheep

    - Traps and Detect Traps

    - Reading the spell descriptions

    - Understanding cooldowns

    - Box: health potions, mana potions

    - Warm clothing, wetsuit, underwater breathing

    - Torches

    - Connect the classes

 47 47. Its a Trap

    Flora stared at the pink cupcake-shaped building ''Homemaker''s Haven''.

    It even had shimmering sprinkles on its creamy white roof and a cherry on the top!

    "I think it''s a trap!" Flora stated.

    An affirmative beep sounded in Flora''s mind.

    "Is that you, Aitoshuri?"

    It beeped again.

    "Stupid logical fallacy! If one beep means no, it makes the same sense as if one beep means yes!"

    It beeped again.

    "What do you think, Aidan?"

    "I believe Aitoshuri agrees with you. But I''m sorry, I don''t see it. Humans perceive cupcakes as delicious, aren''t they?"

    "In Germany, there are many fairytales where innocent maidens get enticed by eatable houses only to get eaten by witches at the end, like Hansel and Gretel, or the land of milk and honey. I don''t remember Charly and the chocolate factory that much, but it wasn''t entirely safe."

    "No comments in the bulletin boards hint any nefarious activities."

    "We''ll beam to the Hunting Lodge first and get Detect Traps."

    The Hunting Lodge turned out to be a cozy compound in the woods. Log cabins surrounded a central place, with a wooden fence encircling them and an archery field.

    Flora found the check-in and swiped her badge.

    Daily Quest: Skinning (Hunting Lodge)

    Description: Help Skinner Darkly skin ten animals.

    Rewards: Reputation with the Hunting Lodge

    Penalty: none

    Difficulty: D

    Weekly Quest: Mammoth-Hunt

    Description: Participate in one mammoth hunt, starting daily at 11 P.M. and 11 A.M. C.C.T.

    Rewards: Reputation with the Hunting Lodge

    Penalty: none

    Difficulty: C

    Flora thought about the dead kingators that lurked somewhere in her inventory and accepted the first quest.

    "This game is horrible. You never run out things to do."

    Swiftly, she found a workshop for the class "Trapper" that taught everything on her list. It started in a quarter-hour, so she visited the skinning teacher in the meantime.

    -------------------

    You gained an ability: Salvaging (Animals).

    -------------------

    The skinning knife in Flora''s hand shook.

    ''Get a grip on yourself! If you want to eat it, you should be able to cook it. If you want to cook it, you should be able to prepare it. If you want to prepare it, you should be able to kill it. Because without this step, it never ends in your stomach!''

    But the bunny was so cute! It was a creamy beige and had a little unicorn horn protruding from his head.

    Its lifelessness felt wrong. The bunny should hop over a meadow and enjoying the sun with its friends!

    Flora put the knife down.

    "Suggestions?"

    "If you switch to half auto-mode, there is an option to make helplines appear where the cuts should be, Milady. Another possibility is to build a robot or use the octopus to skin the rabbit."

    "Thank you. Let''s try the helplines, first."

    Surprisingly, it helped. The glowing lines, reaching from one paw along its legs to the other, hammered home that this was a game. Or maybe it bridged the connection to CAD-systems and woke up Flora''s professional side.

    Flora made the cut.

    She had expected that the next step, flaying the hide, might even be more difficult, but concentrating on the technical aspects, she managed to execute it swiftly.

    "Ha!" she exclaimed proudly but got subdued when she remembered that she had to repeat the process ten times. "Next!"

    The workshop captivated Flora. The topic was all new and exciting.

    The first part was about where to place traps and what traps are suitable for what situations or animals. In the second part, they built a pit trap. At last, they learned about spells to deploy or even create traps and to detect traps.

    The instructor advised the students to participate in the next workshop, Tracking, to make full use of the class, but Flora opted out.

    --------------

    You gained a new ability: Trapping.

    --------------

    You gained a new skill: Create Bear-Trap

    Description: Creates a bear-trap for one minute. Initial damage and high probability for bleeding and fixates the enemy for up to 10 sec.

    CD: 1 minute.

    --------------

    You gained a new skill: Deploy Traps

    Description: Distribute one or more traps from your inventory.

    --------------

    You gained a new skill: Detect Traps

    Description: Indicates traps for one minute.

    --------------

    You gained a new skill: Escape Trap

    Description: Moves you away from the trap and removes the primary debuff of the trap.

    CD: 25 sec.

    --------------

    You gained a new skill: Lure

    Description: Creates an irresistible object for one minute. If your opponents won''t touch it, their attribute OVs gets halved for 25 sec.

    CD: 5 minutes.

    --------------

    You gained a new class: Trapper.

    Class: Trapper.

    Branch: Survival.

    Passive:

    + 1 Training efficiency modifier for Ability Trapping

    Active:

    Bonus for Trapping Skills

    -----------

    After the workshop, Flora fetched the Treasure-Chest from her inventory. She wanted to check with Skinner Darkly on how to process the kingators.

    When she opened the door of the container, some parts fell out of it. The chest was filled up to Flora''s height with camping equipment, hull pieces, statues, knick-knack, and assumably two kingator carcasses.

    It would have been better if there had been no room at all because the current situation gave Flora the hope to find them and get them out.

    First, Flora looked at everything visible from the door. She was sure she saw a scale reflecting the light a bit further in the room.

    Jumping up and grabbing the doorframe with one hand, she set her foot carefully on the head of a statue and leaned in to reach the blanket that was blocking her sight.

    Unfortunately, her naked underarm touched a statue.

    Lady Mnoder versus Huebueld Wypadek - Mannequin-Routine.

    A small but growing crowd gathered around a container in the middle of the Hunters Lodge.

    It was painted like a treasure chest with thick studded belts and carvings of maps, tropical islands, pirate ships, and skulls.

    One leg jutted out of its door. The rest of the woman, wearing a shabby looking greenish-white mech-suit, was balancing on top of a mountain of trash without moving an inch.

    "Do you think she is doing some performance art?"

    "Maybe it''s a challenge, someone should try to get one of the items in the chest, and we''ll see what happens."

    "Dude! Look at the leg. I bet it comes down as soon as I make a move!"

    "I still think it is art. The chest represents our futile greed for wealth. The trashiness of the mech-suit our limited abilities. The junk in the container that is not worth the pursuit. That she is stuck in an uncomfortable position is an allegory how we are all stuck in our miserable lives in a society ruled by consuming!" A girl with multi-colored hair explained to the audience.

    Finally, the woman started to move, diving even deeper into the container.

    "Now, she is in the throws of her own greed! No! She let go of the doorframe! Hold on, Granny! Don''t let the capitalist monster eat you!"

    "Ha! I got you!" The woman exclaimed.

    She climbed out of the container holding the tails of two crocodile-like creatures and froze when she saw the crowd staring at her.

    "And she found a beast symbolizing her primal ferociousness in the depth of the consumer hell. It enabled her to free herself from the shackles of our modern society!"

    The commentating girl clapped with enthusiasm but then changed to the sign language form of clapping, and the crowd joined in.

    ''What is happening here? Why are those young people trying to dislocate their wrists?''

    Rapidly, Flora put her chest back into her inventory and marched away, only throwing a suspicious glance above her shoulder to see if she was followed.

    The second visit with the skinner was more enjoyable than the first. He showed her not only how to skin the beasts, but traded them with her for two blueprints: Frost-Trap and Explosive-Trap and even taught her the spell for the Frost-Trap.

    ----------------

    You gained a skill: Frost-Trap.

    ----------------

    Flora felt ready for the Homemaker''s Haven.

    "Alright, sweeties! Guard yourself! How are your firewalls?"

    "Up and Running, Milady!"

    Aitoshuri gave a confirming beep.

    "When someone happens, or you sense something that could pose a danger, warn me!"

    Slowly, Flora approached the cupcake-shaped building.

    !

    She entered and arrived at the pink, yellow striped hall.

    !

    ----------------

    Zone: Homemaker''s Haven

    Color: Yellow

    Automated Reputation Losses

    Fighting: - 5 Rep

    Littering: - 1 Rep

    Cussing: - 1 Rep

    Property Destruction: - 3 Rep

    Automated Reputation Gains

    Consum: + 1 Rep per 10 VirDos

    Quests: + 1 Rep per Quest

    Teach: + 1 Rep per hour

    ----------------

    Only after checking every corner, Flora swiped her badge across the console.

    ----------------

    Daily Quest: Blooming Home (Homemaker''s Haven)

    Description: Create a flower bouquet in the winter-garden.

    Rewards: Reputation with Homemaker''s Haven

    Penalty: none

    Difficulty: D

    Weekly Quest: Work-Shop Leisure-Home (Homemaker''s Haven)

    Description: Attend a workshop in Homemaker''s Haven.

    Rewards: Reputation with Homemaker''s Haven

    Penalty: none

    Difficulty: E

    ----------------

    The next workshop for acquiring the Homemaker class started in twenty minutes. Flora took the time to inch carefully towards the classroom.

    !

    She passed cozy parlors, !, a bakery, !, a sewing room, !, and several kitchens, !, !, ! and started to feel ridiculous.

    Just when she decided that she had no reason to feel paranoid, the spell lightened up a wall in blue!

    "Ha! I knew it! But why is it blue? In the lesson, the glow was yellow. Is it an extra mean trap?"

    "No, Milady. It''s a secret door. They glow blue, unknown mechanisms glow orange and deactivated traps green."

    Flora was disappointed and walked now in a regular tempo.

    "Oh, well. Let''s go to the course. I might have misjudged this establishment."

    A few meters later, Aitoshuri made distressed sounds.

    !

    Immediately after casting, Flora pressed her back on a wall and took a defensive posture.

    "What''s up?"

    "Aitoshuri sent me a link: The five principles of adventuring successfully in the Cetviwos."

    Increase the reputation with both of the main factions of the branch of your main class

    Take part in competitions

    If you see something in an unlikely place, investigate it

    Raise only physical vigor until you have 100 levels in it.

    Positioning is key

    "What means the last point?"

    Do not stand in AoE''s!

    Be aware of the range of your skills

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    Control the point of engagement

    Stand behind your opponent

    Use terrain advantages

    Keep the overview

    Don''t obstruct your teammates

    Aidan read her the list but added that Aitoshuri marked the third point.

    "So, she thinks I should investigate the hidden door? But isn''t it impolite to snoop around other people''s places?"

    "It''s a game, Milady. And there is no reputation loss for entering restricted areas in this zone."

    "We try it your way."

    Flora walked back and inspected the wall with Detect Traps. One lamp on the wall was a deeper blue than the rest. After fiddling with it, a wooden panel slid back and revealed a staircase.

    Before entering, Flora XYZ-rayed the mechanism. She had no intention of getting stuck on the other side.

    The stairs led to a round stone room. It only contained a pedestal with a shimmering scroll on it.

    ''Mother JJCherrytree''s Secret Cherry-Chocolate-Cupcake Recipe''

    Flora read it.

    --------------------

    You gained a hidden recipe: Mother JJCherrytree''s Secret Cherry-Chocolate-Cupcake

    Effect: + 3 OV Magical Micro-Control, + 2 OV Magical Defense

    Tier: 1

    Rating: S

    --------------------

    Beware! If you share a hidden thing, you will lose it and one additional one!

    --------------------

    Raising her eyebrows, Flora questioned Aidan about the last message.

    "You are not allowed to teach a hidden skill, class, or recipe or tell anything about the quest you had to do to get it. You are allowed to link its name, effects, and description and mention the name of the teacher. Revealing the location is more ambivalent, I advise against it or only in the vaguest possible terms."

    After searching futility the room for additional secrets, Flora went to the workshop.

    They did a bit of cooking, cleaning, and sewing and how to prepare a budget.

    --------------------

    You gained a skill: Magic Stir.

    You gained a skill: Magic Needle.

    You gained a skill: Magic Ledger.

    --------------------

    Flora was disappointed that no household appliances were used at all! The workshop ended with the obligatory recommendation for the next workshop, in this case, Gardening.

    --------------------

    You gained a new ability: Cooking.

    You gained a new ability: Tailoring.

    --------------------

    Class: Homemaker

    Branch: Crafting

    Passives:

    +1 Training efficiency modifier for Ability Cooking

    +1 Training efficiency modifier for Ability Tailoring

    +1 Training efficiency modifier for Ability Negotiation

    +1 Training efficiency modifier for Ability Appraisal

    Active:

    Bonus for Homemaker skills

    --------------------

    The janitor''s office was in the cellar of the building. Enduring a lecture by a gnarly older man about proper behavior in corridors, Flora got the next class.

    --------------------

    Class: Janitor

    Branch: Crafting

    Passives:

    +1 Training efficiency modifier for affinity/resistance time magic

    Active:

    Bonus for crafting utility skills

    --------------------

    Finally, Flora could connect her crafting classes to the Champion of Evailyn class:

    Champion of Evailyn ¡ú Priestess of Evailyn ¡ú Homemaker ¡ú switch Homemaker with Janitor ¡ú switch Mechanic with Technician

    Priestess of Evailyn ¡ú Priest

    Janitor ¡ú Homemaker

    Technician ¡ú Mechanic

    Technician ¡ú Electrician

    Technician ¡ú Smith

    At last, Flora connected Pupil to Technician.

    "Aitoshuri, please switch Pupil around to whatever I level at the moment."

 48 48. Robo Handler

    "Milady, Aitoshuri sent a link to the umbrella class, Tinkerer. It connects Technician, Mechanic, Trapper, Surefire (Alchemist, Smith, Blaster), Robot Handler, Drone Pilot (Driver), and Magetechician (Runemaster, Technician). You''ve got only three of the four needed classes. There are additional requirements about achievements, inventions, designs, and modifications and their quality, but you already fulfill these."

    "Great! Excellent job, Aito! I have already wanted to get Robot Handler, and Magetech sounds interesting as well! Learning about Runes and Alchemy is on my ''I will look into it as soon as I have time''-List. So how can we get one of those classes?"

    "I''m sorry, Milady! I thought Robot Handler was only available at the Metaworld, but Aito found a hint that you can get it in the Garage if you have registered for the Robo-Melee. She also thinks that we might have a chance to acquire Magetechician at the Magetech Institute if we get the quest from Snoralga. The only other option to get the fourth class in the Metaworld is learning Blaster via a scenario and go from there."

    Flora beamed back to the Garage. First, she rechecked the local network, whether she had overlooked a quest-giver.

    Then she started to ask around. A forewoman referred her to Hangar 29, where the weekly was.

    There, an old technician sent her to the managers in Hangar 12 to get permission.

    Flora jogged to the hanger. After watching the receptionist polishing her nails for a quarter of an hour, she got access to the administrative staff. Before granting a permit, they wanted to have a certificate from the robot technicians in Hangar 31.

    The robot technicians demanded to inspect the Blade-Roller-Extreme to judge if she was worthy of the class. For that, she had to fetch her robot from Hanger 29.

    There, the old technician told her that she wasn''t allowed to transport her own robot because of possible cheating. She needed first the approval of the managers in Hangar 12.

    Flora changed into her new mech-suit because it had the built-in sprinting skill. Also, the soles of her old mech-suit, as well as Flora''s temper, were near the boiling point.

    The receptionist was still polishing her nails when Flora returned. After another wait, the managers sent her to hanger 3 to get a foreperson to accompany her.

    The only one who had time was an ancient crone. Flora estimated that she was a good twenty to forty years her senior.

    Carefully, the crone set her cane on the ground. Then she dragged one foot after it, then the second. After that, she placed the cane 10 cm further away and repeated the process. Three iterations later, she made a pause to catch her breath.

    "May I carry you, Ma''am?"

    "Haha, you young people are always so impatient!"

    Instantly, Flora forgave her and the Garage everything. It had been decades since anyone had addressed her with something with the word ''young'' in it.

    Name: Qadima Muhandis

    Class: Technician

    Level: 250

    Rating: B

    RGS: 1

    Flora fetched the Treasure Chest and transferred a good haul of the small parts into a sack. Then she exchanged it with the Hungry Chest and sat down inside of it.

    "Do you want a ride, Ma''am?"

    "No, no, dear. I''m fine! I might look old, but I''m fit for my age!"

    Then Muhandis stared at the Hungry Chest.

    "My, my, quite a ride you have," she muttered, but finally resumed walking.

    Flora grinned wrily and commanded Aitoshuri to follow.

    "So, what is your specialty?" Flora asked while sorting the parts. The hungry chest swayed like a drunken sailor on shore leave, but Flora used it to test her balance, dexterity, and telekinetic abilities.

    "Drives drive my drive! The cores of all machines!"

    "That''s right. Can you tell me something about heat management in the Cetviwos? I did a scenario, and you wouldn''t believe the atrocities I''ve seen!" Flora described to her the most terrible faults of the turrets.

    "That could only happen in tiny parts of the world where runes don''t work. Runes are the last magic to give out when technology reigns. The MI assholes claim that their schemes can withstand any metal handicap, but you know, I''ve heard things."

    "So, you fix overheating with runes?"

    "Yes, sure. You can use spells, of course, but runes are better. My favorite rune-scheme transforms the excess heat into mana and feeds it back into the system."

    "Neat!" Flora whistled.

    Flora to Aidan: "Start recording, this is priceless."

    "The magic is the thinnest in deep space, far away from everything that flows, maybe except ether, void, and space itself, but you better talk with a mage about that stuff. But space is cold. Hence you can dump the heat, no problem."

    "The area I worked in was heavily shielded. Could that have interfered with the heat management?"

    "For sure, lass! Ice is an elemental force, and nearly all shields have at least rudimentary protection against them."

    Flora XYZ-rayed her multitool and compared it with the available components. At least, she could rebuild the on-size-fits-it-all spanner, she reckoned.

    Once the woman started, she never stopped talking. Flora learned more about the connection between electromechanics and magic than in her whole playtime before, including workshops and scenarios.

    Flora even figured out where the strange nagging feeling in the back of her head came from when someone mentioned runes.

    The CAD System innovated near the end of its runtime a curious feature: the Chips. They looked like black patches and had nothing on them but a fantastical description of what they were able to do.

    Flora had been obsessed and devoted her entire time to playing with them. All her best creations, like the fusion-box and the fountain, incorporated them. For the fusion-box, she even wrote her own Chip. That had to be one of the ''runes'' CentralTank credited to her.

    After the CAD-System stopped working and forcing her into official retirement, she worked hard to put away all thoughts about them.

    Somewhat because she was ashamed to be fascinated by something that whimsical but mostly because they dominated her imagination to such a degree that she spent hours drawing pictures of bizarre devices and art.

    After half an hour, they arrived at Hangar 29.

    The older man fetched the Blade-Roller-Extreme and chatted with Muhandis.

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    "Ey, lass. There was this handy invention a few years back. It''s called ''wheel''. Ever heard of it?" The crone looked pointedly at Flora''s robots.

    Flora''s jaw fell to the floor. Wheels!

    "I''m so stupid! Wheels! When you only have a hammer, everything looks like a nail! Just because I haven''t used wheels for a few dozen years, it never occurred to me to implement them! I even invented subconsciously silly reasons why not having them was better! Wheels!"

    "I''ve seen guys trying to reinvent the *bleep*ing wheel, but never someone who forgot about them! That''s too rich!" The older man threw in his two credits worth, and they all had a good laugh.

    Flora felt enlightened! Her mind spurned out ideas on how to add retractable tires to the Hungry Chest.

    "Metaworld to Flowing Flowers! We still have to figure out how to transport this sawblade monstrosity to the robot guys! Sure as hell, I won''t carry it, and you are not allowed!"

    They threw back and forth some ideas, like putting it in the back or on the top of the Hungry Chest "I can''t see it there", fetching a lifter robot "all are occupied", hiring a random guy "What if you have planted him in advance!", at last, they decided to hire the next guy that came out of the quest area.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    PeppyPeppe Pepperpower had a good day. He just finished the weekly quest at the Garage for the third week in a row and trusted that his robot was a robust design and would do well in the competition on Saturday. When he exited the area, the gazes of three older people locked onto him.

    "Hey, boy! Do you wanna earn some coin?" An old technician who administered the area asked.

    Smelling a quest, Peppe walked closer.

    "Sure. What''s up?"

    They explained to him that a robot had to be carried to Hangar 31. That wasn''t far from where he was at the moment. The robot looked, well, he looked... Let''s say, unconventional. If standard Robo Melee bots seemed to spring out of a children''s horror movie, this looked like it escaped an adult movie.

    "Be careful, dear, not to hurt yourself, and of course, my sweet little creation." An older woman, Flowing Flowers, said to him. She even gave him a sleeping bag to wrap around the device that he could carry it better.

    Unique Quest: Carry the Roller (The Garage)

    Description: Carry the Blade-Roller-Extreme to Hangar 31 without damaging or tampering with it.

    Rewards: 10 VirDos, unknown

    Penalty: unknown

    Difficulty: B

    The difficulty was unexpectedly high, but his concentration was on the word "unique". It was the first time that he caught a unique quest, and he was looking forward to it.

    The third person, a freaking level 250 NPC, started to walk. At least he thought that was her intent. He wouldn''t call it a walk. One step of his was three steps of hers. Then she took a break to recuperate.

    Pepe realized that the quest was going to be harder than he initially thought. The sharp edges cut through the wrapping and in his skin, and the weight drained his stamina like a toilet flush.

    Separate from the physical ordeal, his mind was challenged as well. When the two grannies started talking, he was able to guess the topic was wheels and axles. But the conversation included principles of mechanics and magic and especially the combination of both that baffled him. He tried to follow the discussion, but his brain got twisted like a pretzel.

    In school, he took a fair share of crafting classes. He built his own computer and helped a friend to tune his car. He had thought of himself as a savvy guy who could find his way around a workshop. Now, he felt like a babe that had pretended that his toy-workbench was the real thing.

    Only the constant level-up messages kept him going: Mechanics, Electronics, Physical Power, Regeneration, ....

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Flora''s assembly of the multitool made good progress. She not only got the spanner and the vibro-knife to work, but made headway into the screwdriver.

    The poor boy who accompanied them wasn''t faring well. The robot weight over 50 kg and was challenging to carry. He got the first cuts when they weren''t even out of the door of Hangar 29.

    Flora hit him with a refresh. She doubted that he would make it otherwise.

    After a good twenty minutes, they arrived at their goal.

    Peppe sat down the Blade-Roller carefully and then crashed next to it on the floor.

    The robot technicians swarmed around the device and even inspected the Hungry Chest. Which made sense, it was another robot.

    -------------------

    You gained a class: Robot Handler

    Class: Robot Handler

    Branch: Technology

    Passive:

    +1 Training efficiency modifier for ability hacking

    +1 Training efficiency modifier for AI abilities

    Active:

    Bonus for abilities and skills of the robots

    Bonus for skills of the robot handler class

    -------------------

    You gained a new skill: Overcharge Regular Mode

    Description: Boost your robots regular mode

    CD: 25 sec

    You gained a new skill: Overcharge Build-In Skill

    Description: Boost your robots Build-In skills and features

    CD: 10 sec

    You gained a skill: Grease with life''s blood.

    Description: Heals your robot, but lowers your own health.

    CD: 25 sec.

    You gained a skill: Hurry up.

    Description: Increases the robot''s movement speed.

    CD: 25 sec

    You gained a skill: Human Machine Connection.

    Description: Channels your stats into your robots.

    -------------------

    Flora cheered. Those were solid skills! But at the same time, she wondered how the other contestants were doing without them.

    A tech walked over to the still recuperating Peppe.

    "I really appreciate with what care you treated the bot, and it wasn''t even your own! Do you want to get the class Robot Handler?"

    Flora smiled wrily. Luck and the right timing were skills, too. And it wasn''t like he didn''t earn it.

    After thanking the technicians, especially Qadima and Peppe, and of course paying him, Flora offered the multitool to Qadima, but she rejected the gift.

    The endeavor took longer than Flora had anticipated, but she learned a great deal and got an excellent class, so she was satisfied.

    "Alright, dears. Where do I get the tinkerer class?"

    "You should have gotten a letter, Milady."

    "Yes! We can finally go home!"

    Aidan was right. The letter was in the mailbox, along with a lot of others.

    ------------------

    You gained a class: Tinkerer.

    Class: Tinkerer

    Branch: Technology/Crafting

    Passive:

    +1 Training efficiency modifier for crafting abilities

    +1 Training efficiency modifier for technology abilities

    Active:

    Bonus for all abilities and skills you perform with the help of gadgets that had been tinkered with or were created by you

    -------------------

    You gained a skill: Tinker.

    Description: Buff. The device gains an additional Stat or Feature.

    CD: 25 min.

    -------------------

    Flora connected the classes.

    Then she studied her balance sheet and used the magical ledger skill on all the financial letters she had received over the last few days.

    A considerable increase in sales sprang to her eyes. The Stehaufm?nnchen sold like hot toast! She got VirDias from the Cetviwos shop, VirDos, from direct sales.

    "How did the customers know about the product? Did someone advertise it?"

    "Yes, Milady. RadLana did posts in the jerky forum and made some videos about her training and progress of her sync rate."

    "Great! Let''s give her a cut, is 20% of the win fair?"

    Aidan added Lana as a collaborator, and they adjusted the division of the income retroactively. Still, Flora earned 9532 VirDos and 6232 VirDias and 142122 Credits after taxes, including the sales of her other products as well.

    Additionally, she found the voucher Lana had talked about: 30 hours of the services of the Clan Riverstone.

    Flora fetched her wetsuit, the flamethrower, and the other knick-knack she ordered. Even the millionaire''s exemption had arrived. Now, she could order anything she liked from the Cetviwos shop without having to pay it in chunks.

    "Let''s tidy up my inventory first before I fill it with shop items!"

    Flora put the mannequin-routine statues and the cockpit of the H-Wing fighter in her flat. She had already copied those items and the rest of her inventory in the workshop.

    Then she walked down to put all the loose parts and trash into the 3D Printer. She stared at another shredded sleeping bag.

    "I have to design one of those and bedrolls myself! I destroy them as fast as tissues during allergy time!"

    After Aidan dutifully reminded her of the topics she wanted to tackle at home, Flora printed two boxes and put in the essentials: 10 healing potions, five mana potions, the headlight, the rope, bandages, 10 Nutella toasts, 1-liter water, and of course, a new sleeping bag.

    While the printer worked, she amended the Rainbow-Intensity-Meter for ball sports and ordered Aidan to communicate it to the concerned parties.

    On her way up, she met Deriga.

    "I''ve finished the list, Auntie Flow."

    "Can we go over it now in my workshop? Or better in the simulation grounds? Do you have a nock, dear?"

    Indeed, Deriga had a nock, and Flora gave her a jack for the workshop and hopped by the mailbox to fetch another item she ordered spontaneously.

    Wide-eyed Deriga chose a spot to sit on the floor. Her eyes darted nervously between the statues, the training coffin, and the cockpit.

    "The best place is where the debuffs of the coffin hit you, but you won''t die from it," Flora added.

    Deriga''s eyes nearly fell out of their socket, and she inched away from the training coffin.

    Next, Flora changed the auto-mode to the next Energymaster skill, Force-Field. After she had connected so many of her classes, she was eager to link the last two, Energymaster and Kinetic Mage, as well.

 49 49. Conference

    In the workshop, she met Deriga. She stood in the middle and didn''t dare to move a step.

    "What''s up, dear?"

    "It feels like a holy place!"

    Flora shrugged.

    "The buffs are still active because our real bodies reside in the consecrated space."

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    "No, I mean, it feels like the Goddess walked this room. I can feel the aura of Evailyn."

    "Oh. Yes, I can explain that. Let''s go to the simulation grounds first. What kind of fighting do you practice?"

    "Fighting?"

    "Yes, what do you do to protect yourself if your mana has run out?"

    "I run away screaming? I mean, I pray, of course!"

    Flora waved Deriga over to the dummies.

    "Just hit them with your fists."

    After activating the plasma sword and setting plasma sword fighting on auto mode, Flora watched her movements. After a while, she chose a diagonal slash that had a significant hip movement for linking the skill plasma sword dance to it.

    Then she watched for a while to be sure her plan worked. The first part went well enough. Her body trashed the dummy, and when it performed the diagonal slash, the skill got activated. But after the Plasma-Sword-Dance ended, her body stood around dumbly. Just when Flora wanted to change things up, the dummy attacked her with its ax. Her body started moving again, fighting with the plasma sword.

    Now, she configured the simulation grounds. She built a cliff above the sea. A cursed cliff! Because she wanted to level faith and climbing and swimming and diving and ... Okay, she wanted to level a thousand things. On a ledge, she put the bed and in a cave the library container and a few blade-rollers. Then she saved this configuration. Then she added a small pool with a connection to a hot spring and hit save again. She had gotten used to having a jacuzzi and wouldn''t want to miss it.

    "Concentrate on hitting the dummy with the intention never to stop hitting it, dear!"

    At last, she copied Deriga and herself.

    "Great!" Flora exclaimed, watching her debuffs.

    Unholy Place: - 3 OV to all attributes.

    Flora connected the library-container and one blade-roller.

    First, she cast the skills on the container.

    !

    A happy gurgling noise came from Aitoshuri, and the pages turned faster.

    !

    The insides of the container started to glow.

    Built-In Feature: En-Lightening

    Description: Aura. Increases the Training efficiency modifier while reading.

    CD: 25 min

    Temporary: 29min 56sec remaining.

    "This buff is excellent! Deriga, do you mind if we read a bit before we go over the furnishing?"

    "No. I need the time to process all the strange things I''ve seen."

    "Then you wouldn''t mind, giving me the book on runes back for the duration?" Flora was embarrassed about asking, but her desire to dive into the world of runes won out.

    "Sure." Deriga pulled it out of her satchel.

    Immediately, Flora dove into the book. It was a beginner''s guide to runecraft. It started with what materials were suitable to write or carve them. Basically, everything but metal had merits, especially stones. The book recommended a chalkboard to train and preparing healing potions for unexpected effects.

    Flora raised her eyebrows. She didn''t know that runes were dangerous! On the other hand, if you are reckless enough, everything is perilous.

    When you used only one rune, the rune functioned as a verb. Here the first rune was introduced: Garmee. It meant heat, warmth, welcome, and half a dozen barely connected things. Its looks reminded Flora of a toast, hugging itself.

    When it was standing alone, and you channeled mana in it, the rune got warm or was heating up.

    When you combined it with a second rune, the effect depended on the position those runes where ordered. For example, combining it with Visphot, looking like a mixer, which meant shot, blast, gust, spear, ball, explosion, and other things: either a gust of hot air would blow to you, when a bullet passed the scope the shot would heat up or the rune would heat up or nothing would happen.

    "Auntie Flow, I''m dying." Deriga sounded composed, considering the message.

    "From what? Boredom?"

    "From the debuff ''Unwelcome''"

    Unholy Place: - 3 OV to all attributes.

    Unwelcome: 1 x ~1dmg / 2 sec.

    Immediately, Flora hit her with Refresh.

    "The debuff isn''t that bad yet. If you want, I''ll teach you Refresh, that''s a spell to boost regeneration."

    "Thank you very much, but I''m already at the spell limit."

    "There is a limit to how many spells you can learn?" Flora asked, alarmed. If she had known that before, she would have taken a more selective approach.

    "Yes, I''m C-rated. Hence I can learn three skills. Every time I level up a tier or my RGC (recommended group size) rises, I have the chance to learn a new one and, of course, if my rating goes up."

    Aidan to Flora: "Only NPCs have restrictions on the number of skills, Milady."

    "Terrible, dear! Most terrible! On earth, we don''t have any magic skills, but you can as many abilities as your time and talents and resources allow. It''s not as bad when nobody has magic as when you have less than others."

    "Being C-rated is a burden on its own. Normal people are abundant, they can only learn one mana skill, but they are allowed to choose it most times. The C-rated people are called soldiers because we are useful enough that the As and Bs order us around." Deriga''s shoulder slumped.

    "But what about the "E" the weak category? I can imagine they have it worse."

    "Yes, many don''t survive childhood, end up in orphanages or gangs because their family rejects them. There is a proverb: ''When an A sneezes, an E dies.''" Deriga said with a monotonous voice.

    Flora hadn''t thought about what it meant that your rating is evident to the whole world and that it profoundly affected your options.

    "Formerly, I looked at it the other way around, that you get rated for what you are capable of and not that your rating limits you. But maybe I wasn''t totally wrong! You mentioned that your rating could go up?"

    "Yes, but it''s a laborious process. We call it ''breaking the ceiling''. You have to train like crazy and prove yourself through accomplishments."

    "Great! Then you are exactly right here! This simulation ground trains your faith, your physical regeneration, and your physical vigor! And helping to establish a new place of worship for our Goddess is a huge achievement!"

    Unholy Place: - 3 OV to all attributes.

    Unwelcome: 2 x ~1dmg / 2 sec.

    Faithless: - 1 OV to magical micro-control. + 1% damage from all sources.

    For a moment, Deriga perked up, but then she sank back and shrugged.

    Flora figured out with Aidan''s help how to sent a party invitation to Deriga.

    "It''s not to celebrate, dear, but that I can see your health to heal you better," Flora added to prevent a misunderstanding only she would have.

    "Aidan, supply me with a description of all my healing spells and defensive measures. Anything that helps."

    Refresh was still on cooldown. Not only had Deriga just half her health left, but it and Flora''s too were sinking.

    "I added the duration, affinity effect, and mana-cost, Milady, and sorted them into three categories."

    Spells that help:

    Refresh

    Description: Increases the target''s regeneration

    Affinity effect: Water, Weak

    CD: 1 min

    Duration: 30 sec

    Mana cost: 10

    Bless and Condemn

    Description: Heals all friendly targets, damages all enemies in range.

    Affinity effect: Faith, Middle

    CD: none

    Duration: none

    Mana cost: 25

    Fortification of Faith

    Description: Gives Target temporary hit points and mana points and increases its defenses.

    Affinity effect: Faith, Middle

    CD: 25 sec

    Duration: 25 sec/ until exhausted

    Mana cost: 10

    Pray

    Description: Gives Target hitpoints or mana points or stamina or concentration.

    Affinity effect: Faith, Weak

    CD: 1 min

    Duration: none

    Mana cost: 10

    Thaumaturgy

    Description: Random, but helpful, wondrous deed.

    Affinity effect: Faith, strong

    CD: 5 min

    Duration: varies

    Mana cost: varies

    Spells that help a bit, but not proportional to their mana usage:

    Force-Field

    Description: Shields the Caster from kinetic, electro-magnetic, and plasma attacks. Minor protection against elements and arcane. Paltry protection against the rest.

    Affinity effect: Kinetic, Magnetism, Lightning, Weak

    CD: 25 sec

    Duration: 25 sec/ until exhausted

    Mana cost: 10

    Kinetic Shield

    Description: Shields the Caster from kinetic attacks. Minor protection against elements and arcane. Paltry protection against the rest.

    Affinity effect: Kinetic, Weak

    CD: 25 sec

    Duration: 25 sec/ until exhausted

    Mana cost: 10

    I bow to you and roll with it

    Description: Reduces all incoming damage

    Affinity effect: Faith, Weak

    CD: 25 sec

    Duration: 5 sec

    Mana cost: 10

    Rise to the occasion

    Description: Increases the OV of all stats and your size.

    Affinity effect: Faith, Middle

    CD: 1 day

    Duration: Faith OV in seconds

    Mana cost: 25

    Healing and defensive spells that won''t help

    Grease with life''s blood

    Description: Heals your robot, but lowers your own health.

    Affinity effect: None

    CD: 25 sec

    Duration: none

    Mana cost: 10

    As soon as Flora read the description of Thaumaturgy, she cast it.

    "Aito, when the CD runs out, write the spell name in my HUD, orange and blinking for 3 seconds, transparency 50%".

    A golden light came down on the group, including the two robots, washed over them and vanished.

    Protection of Faith: Immunity to hostile Faith debuffs. Time remaining: 1 min.

    Flora noticed that not only were all the debuffs from the unholy cliff gone, but Deriga''s posture shifted, and the veil in front of her eyes vanished.

    After Flora finished reading the list, she cast refresh again and then instructed Aito on the notifications she wanted to have. Before she had worked with audio, but now that her spell arsenal had increased, she didn''t want to learn different audio signals for each spell.

    There was a display of cooldown timers on her HUD, but they showed the spells on CD. Flora activated a feature that when the timer ticked to zero, the skill name would be highlighted by it, and a soft chime rang.

    "Feeling better, dear?"

    "Yes, auntie. I''m sorry. I''m usually not that whiny."

    "It was the aura of this unholy place. When the feeling comes again, press against it with your faith!" Flora spent a second thinking about whether this place affected her mood, but found it impossible to judge. Instead, she concentrated on the practical aspects like keeping them both alive. "Is it impolite to ask what skills you have mastered?"

    "Yes, but I tell you nevertheless. Every novice learns to Pray. The other two spells are randomly assigned. I got Levitate and Smite." Deriga shrugged. "That means I will be appointed to some missions where a clerical damage dealer is needed or maybe to the protection of a temple."

    "Alright, with Pray, you have one tool to replenish your health. And I have the other priest spells and Refresh. That has to suffice to keep us alive. I underestimated the stacking of the debuffs. Initially, I configured the unholiness to be active while I sleep, but it''s too strong for that."

    "Oh, I do have another option to replenish health!" Deriga fetched scepter from her satchel. "I never saw you use any focusses. Is that another Earthling advantage?"

    Flora was stumped. First, she didn''t even know with what question to begin.

    "What is a focus?"

    Now, it was Deriga''s turn to be baffled, but she recovered faster than Flora. "It''s a weapon to enhance prayers and magic. Besides that, you can use it to transform your mana into attacks or heals.

    There are three major types of focusses: elemental supporting magical power, arcane supporting magical macro-control, and intent supporting magical micro-control skills.

    An example of an elemental focus is a Wand of Fire. After you bind it, you can shoot little fireballs from it using only a sliver of mana.

    My scepter is an intent-focus. It''s the standard weapon for C-rated tier-1 novices."

    Deriga gave it to Flora.

    Name: Beginner Soldier Scepter

    Type: Focus

    Regular mode: 1 OV mana regeneration

    Build-In Skill: Shoot healing cantrip; Cost: 1 mana; CD: 2sec;

    Build-In Skill: Shoot damaging cantrip; Cost: 1 mana; CD: 2sec;

    Base Damage/Healing: 2

    Tier: 1

    Rating: C

    "Great! I need one! And you need a better one!" Flora gave the weapon back and opened the marketplace.

    "In the book about runes is a scheme for it. I wanted to give it a try in the next days."

    Abruptly, Flora closed the window and opened the book instead.

    "Materials: Wood or Stone. Check!"

    Flora took her Multitool from her belt and approached the Library-Container.

    "*Miep*! *Beep*, *Beep*!" Aitoshuri protested, albeit timidly.

    "The shelve is empty, dear. Before we get enough books to fill it, we get a new one."

    Flora cut the wood and gave a part to Deriga and took one for herself.

    The two women sat side by side, carved, chatted about the church, and healed each other.

    Because Flora was eager to try out the focus, she rushed:

    Name: I''m sorry I''m in a hurry Scepter

    Type: Focus

    Regular mode: 2 OV mana regeneration

    Build-In Skill: Shoot healing cantrip; Cost: 1 mana; CD: 2sec;

    Build-In Skill: Shoot damaging cantrip; Cost: 1 mana; CD: 2sec;

    Base Damage/Healing: 1

    Tier: 1

    Rating: D

    With Aidan''s help, she tested it.

    Healing Cantrip: 15 HP, 23 HP, 20 HP

    -----------------

    You gained a new ability: Intent-Focus.

    -----------------

    Bless and Condemn without Focus: 2x 13 HP, 15 HP, 13 HP

    Bless and Condemn with Focus: 2x 20 HP, 22 HP, 24 HP

    "Wow, the focus really does make a difference. But even more shocking is how good it is without any spells! Bless and Condemn has 25 times the mana cost!"

    "You have to account, that Bless and Condemn is an AOE-Skill, Milady. When you are in a group, everybody in range gets the 20 HP health, and every enemy receives 20 damage. Furthermore, your intent-focus has no secondary effect."

    "Please explain secondary effects," Flora said after casting Pray with Scepter.

    "A secondary effect is an effect besides the heal or damage. It can be buffs or debuffs. They get triggered by a myriad of reasons, but relevant in this case are the effects of the affinities. When not resisted, enemies get cold from ice, burn from fire, get poisoned from wood, and get more damage and less micro-control from faith.

    The secondary effect of your healing spells for water is a chance to remove debuffs and for faith, receive less damage and get a micro control buff. The usual duration for those effects is 10 seconds, but because faith combats faith directly, it removes stacks of the debuff."

    "Ah, that''s why I haven''t seen a separate buff!"

    Meanwhile, Flora had started on the next scepter.

    Their plans for the church made good progress as well. Deriga had prepared a list of rooms she wanted to add. One storeroom, two offices, two bedrooms, a library, and a file-room. The main-area she divided into an exhibition part for earthling home appliances and a ceremonial part for the worship and ceremonies.

    After a few hours, they went through all the topics and a few more shelves to Aitoshuri''s dismay.

    "I''m ready for bed!" Flora said, yawning.

    Deriga nodded and started to fidget. "Auntie?"

    "Yes, dear."

    "Can I sleep here as well?" Deriga blushed.

    "Okay, but I warn you, I snore horribly!"

    Flora cast her consciousness back to the workshop and copied a bed for Deriga and reloaded the Library Container with all its shelves. Then she fiddled with the degree of unholiness.

    "Something to heal us would be lovely," she mumbled. In her imagination, she connected her arm to another pulley system and got tangled up by it when she turned around in her sleep.

    "Milady, check out the healing turrets."

    Name: Health for cheap - Healing Turret

    Type: Turret

    Description: Heals you and your party. Able to prioritize targets.

    Regular Mode: 5 mana regeneration

    Built-in feature: Healing beam; CD: 2 sec.

    Base healing: 10

    Tier: 1

    Rating: A

    Flora bought the blueprint and assembled the turret in high-speed mode. Then she put three copies in the simulation-grounds along with two copies of the wet-suit and the Stehaufm?nchen.

    Back in the simulation-ground, she gave Deriga the jack for one of the turrets and connected the other two to her nocks.

    Opening her stat window, she made Aidan change the auto-mode binding in the training coffin to Energy-Choke. Force-Field was with level 34 high enough.

    "We have a mana surplus, Milady."

    "Get creative, dear," Flora mumbled tiredly.

    While analyzing her stat gains in the last two days, she fell asleep.

 50 50. Focus on the Focus

    Flora woke up early and hungry.

    The three healing turrets were hard at work, shooting green beams at her chest and even more often in the direction of Deriga''s bed.

    Unholy Place: - 2 OV to all attributes.

    Unwelcome: 3x ~1dmg / 2 sec.

    Faithless: 25x - 1 OV to magical micro-control. 25x + 1% damage from all sources.

    Immediately, Flora cast a flurry of spells. She started with eight Bless and Condemn, then she cast Refresh on herself and prayed for more mana. After that followed Thaumaturgy, which this time gave everybody a heal and mana over time effect for 5 minutes, then Fortification of Faith on Deriga. The rest of her mana and all the mana in her battery she invested into Bless and Condemn. Still, four stacks of the debuff faithless were left.

    While waiting for the cooldowns to run out, she inspected the blade-roller. Five of its sawblades broke, clearly sawed through, and ten more stopped working. This little robot was not fit for longterm use.

    "How do you feel about the bot and your progress with it, Aidan?"

    "Very good, Milady. I tried risky maneuvers and now have a much firmer control over it."

    Flora nodded, satisfied.

    Again, she cast Bless and Condemn until her mana was low. Because Refresh was over level 100, it worked thrice as good if her mana or health was below 30 Percent. ! ! Then she dumped the rest on one Fortification of Faith on Deriga and a flurry of Bless and Condemn.

    If Deriga didn''t oversleep, she had a good chance to survive with only one healing turret working.

    After eating breakfast, toasts with jam, Flora still had a few hours until the mother-son-date.

    "Time for some crafting!" She exclaimed cheerfully.

    Now, that she knew about how wonderful focuses were, she needed one, or better several. Although she created three in the simulation grounds, she couldn''t take them out.

    After her third attempt at the Doom Moon scenario, she realized the importance of not having your weapons and potions in the inventory. She vowed to have the multitool and plasma sword on her belt at all times. That left only a fast way to get a potion unaddressed.

    "Aidan, how do other people have access to their weapons and potions during fights?"

    "Quick access slots, Milady. It''s a tailoring technique. The items come mostly in the form of belts or fanny packs."

    Flora looked at examples in the marketplace and finally bought a blueprint from the workshop interface for a toolbelt. It had three holsters, one pouch, and six quick-access slots. She colored it green to go with her mech-suits and streamlined the form.

    With the sword and tool assigned to two holsters, one was free for a scepter. But Flora wanted a focus for her elemental spells, the Energymaster skills, too. Kinetic spells counted towards all three of the types and Animator skills, primarily as arcane magic.

    "What if I combine them? A multitool would be great scepter for Evailyn!"

    "The high metal content of the tool might be a barrier, Milady."

    Flora grinned. "Then, I replace the metal!"

    The plan proved to be more challenging to implement than Flora initially thought. The casing was not a problem, but the small metal parts snapped too quickly when replaced with stone. Flora solved this issue by engraving runes against breakage.

    Now, the casing consisted of a milky white moonstone and the inner parts of black onyx.

    The next hurdle was the enchanted parts. Fortunately, most of them consisted of other materials than metal, but Flora had not the means to replicate them. She had enough of them for one more tool in her printer, but after that, she had to do the scenario again. Or had she?

    In the marketplace, she found none, but the auction house offered multitools. They went for around five VirDos. Flora clicked her tongue. The scenario cost 10 VirDias, and with a raid of the supply warehouse, she could get a few tools, but it was several hours of work.

    "Let''s see if I can make something good first. Aidan, is there a way to boost the performance of rune schemes?"

    Aidan overlayed her hud with the appropriate page from the rune book. Basically, you had to write the same scheme again and connect it to the original with a combination rune.

    Flora carved the scheme into the pommel and then boosted it.

    Name: Stony-Multitool-Scepter

    Type: Hybrid: Focus and Tool

    Description: Multitool from the ''Groom the Doom Moon''-Scenario modified to function as an intent-focus.

    Regular mode: 1 OV mana regen.

    Build-In Skill: Shoot healing cantrip; Cost: 2 mana; CD: 2sec;

    Build-In Skill: Shoot damaging cantrip; Cost: 2 mana; CD: 2sec;

    Base Damage/Healing: 1

    Tier: 1

    Rating: B

    "Why is the mana cost higher and the base healing lower than Deriga''s Scepter?" Flora asked herself, but Aidan answered nonetheless.

    "The moonstone is tier 0. It conducts magic inferior to tier 1 materials."

    "Yes, of course!" Flora bought the tier-1 minerals Aidan and the book recommended, and two additional multitools to save herself the running around if the design proved to be a success. Then, she sprinted to the mailbox and printer and logged back into the workshop after changing the binding to Energy-Jump.

    Energy-Jump was the only Energymaster skill under level 25. She doubted that it would work within the training-coffin and might destroy it, so it was better to test it while awake.

    "Keep an eye on it, Aidan, and notify me if something breaks or." Flora didn''t bother to finish the sentence properly because her thoughts were back on the current project.

    Name: Stony-Multitool-Scepter V2

    Type: Hybrid: Focus and Tool

    Description: Multitool from the ''Groom the Doom Moon''-Scenario modified to function as an intent-focus.

    Regular mode: 1 OV mana regen.

    Build-In Spell: Shoot healing cantrip; Cost: 1 mana; CD: 2sec;

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    Build-In Spell: Shoot damaging cantrip; Cost: 1 mana; CD: 2sec;

    Base Damage/Healing: 3

    Tier: 1

    Rating: A

    Of course, Flora had the engineering method deeply ingrained. Add power, add more power until it explodes, and then go back a sliver.

    "Let''s see how it works with two boosts!"

    "Check! Four boosts!"

    "Check! Eight boosts!"

    "Check! Sixteen boosts!"

    "Check! S-class, baby!"

    The stats didn''t change except for the rating and one additional effect appeared:

    Effect: Can be used to focus all crafting spells regardless of their type.

    "32 boosts! It''s still working. Time to go big or rather small!"

    Flora miniaturized the scheme and tested how small she could engrave it with it still functioning. There was no physical limit on her engraving skill because, in the workshop, she could change the zoom and resize the scheme as she wanted. The materials determined the size limit and if it would be an electrical device, interference. Flora reckoned that there was something like magic interference, as well.

    She had to stop at 2 mm, half a grain of rice.

    ''Let''s boost the boosts!''

    Plastering the area around the central scheme with boosts, she started to connect the enhancement schemes to boosts, as well.

    Now, she could fit 800 schemes on the surface of the multitool. But why stop at the surface? The product would be printed, so pesky considerations like ''how do I engrave the insides of a material'' were superfluous.

    After Flora''s mad copying spree, the multitool had 3333 cascading boosters connected.

    Name: Stony-Multitool-Scepter V3

    Type: Hybrid: Focus and Tool

    Description: Multitool from the ''Groom the Doom Moon''-Scenario modified to function as an intent-focus.

    Regular mode: 1 OV mana regen.

    Build-In Spell: Shoot healing cantrip; Cost: 1 mana; CD: 2sec;

    Build-In Spell: Shoot damaging cantrip; Cost: 1 mana; CD: 2sec;

    Effect: Can be used to focus all crafting spells regardless of their type.

    Base Damage/Healing: 4

    Tier: 1

    Rating: SS

    Flora researched the tools you needed for pottery. Most of them you could substitute with features of the multitool, albeit awkwardly like using the plasma-knife as a blow-dryer. Therefore, she only added a monofilament wire cutter and a resizable ribbon-tool. For the last, she had to take enchanted parts of the spanner, so she could only make two scepters out of the three multitools.

    Only one hour was left. Therefore Flora went into overdrive.

    She did the same steps for the plasma sword, substituting the metal and engraving the focus schema. This time she used the rune-scheme for an elemental-focus, to be exact for lightning. Aidan had told her that the kinetic scheme was not suitable because the secondary effect could affect the positioning of the enemies uncontrollably. Lightning has a weak secondary impact, ''Jolt'' or a middle ''Shock''. Former had the chance to interrupt the casting of a skill and later to stun the opponent for a short time. Additionally, plasma had the attribute lightning, so there was a chance for synergy.

    She ordered the strands of cascading boosts so that they resembled lightning bolts.

    Name: Lightning-Focus-Plasma-Sword

    Type: Hybrid: Focus and Sword

    Description: Elemental-Focus Plasma-Sword that can shoot lightning bolts.

    Regular mode: 1 OV mana regen.

    Build-In Skill: Shoot lightning cantrip; Cost: 1 mana; CD: 2sec;

    Effect: Lightning has the chance to hop to one additional target in range.

    Focus: Base Damage: 4

    Sword: Base Damage: 6

    Tier: 1

    Rating: SS

    Flora smiled at her two creations and rubbed her hands. It was never easier to create SS rated designs, so why stop here?

    She built a tree-shaped crystal and stuffed it with wood rune-schemes, an icicle-shaped with ice, a flame-shaped with fire, a wave-shaped orb with water, a mini-crystal mountain with earth elemental focus rune schemes. For wind, she wasn''t sure. First, she did a feather, but didn''t like the effect: Supports all flying spells. Then she formed a hurricane and liked the bonus more: Wind effect continues to all targets in a line up to 3 meters.

    ---------------------

    Notification: Exploit detected.

    Please wait for the arrival of the Administrator.

    ---------------------

    Someone cleared his throat right next to her. Flora winced and turned around.

    "Hello, Mr. Administrator! Long-time no see!"

    "Hello, Flowing Flowers. May I come right to the point?"

    Flora nodded.

    "Congratulations, following exploits were discovered by you:

    1. Boosting boosts works indefinitely

    2. Boosting a scheme has no limitation but the available room.

    We will fix both exploits to only one level of boosting a boost and a maximal amount of six boosts per schema. Your creations will be rated down.

    You earned 200 VirDias and + 1 OV runecraft for disclosing this exploit."

    "How about, you add one OV for Modeling and Design as well? I created it in the workshop, after all."

    "No. Thank you for your cooperation. Good-bye."

    The Administrator vanished.

    "Oh, well." Flora sighed. "And still haven''t enough C-rated blueprints to update the printer!"

    "Milady, you reached the wall!"

    "I wouldn''t formulate it like that. I have thousands of ideas, just not enough time to implement them!"

    "Of course, Milady. You reached the opposite wall in your living quarters. The movement spell propelled the whole training coffin. The belt that binds you to it is damaged as well. I estimate it will hold another ten minutes."

    "Not bad, at least a better result than I expected."

    Flora loaded the blueprint for the training coffin. Then, she added a tier-1 belt, a mounting on the base to bolt it to the floor and a more sophisticated pully-system for casting. Just two spells weren''t enough anymore.

    After she crawled out of the coffin, Flora printed only the toolbelt for the potions for her excursion. But then she realized that she didn''t want to wait any longer for her octopussy companion and needed to level the Robot Handler spells. Hence, she printed it, as well.

    ------------------------

    Name: Octopussy-Helper-Bot

    Type: Robot

    Description: Camouflage capable, crafting bot with laser eyes.

    Regular Mode: 7 OV mana regeneration.

    Build-In Feature: Laser; 2 sec CD; Damage: 3.

    Build-In Feature: Vicious Cut; 2 sec CD; Damage: 3.

    Build-In Feature: Multitool: Change tools; 2 sec CD.

    Build-In Skill: Camouflage; 2 mana + 1 mana/minute.

    Build-In Skill: Rapid Fire; Cost: 5 mana; 2 shots per second for 4 seconds.

    Capacity: 140 mana.

    HP: 40.

    Rating: B.

    ------------------------

    Flora winced. Due to the shitty printer, her robot had suffered. Its HP, Mana-Capacity, Rapid Fire skill, and rank had sunken. Even the toolbelt was worse than its design, with only five quick-access slots.

    After connecting Aitoshuri''s jack to the robot, she patted its head.

    "So, what do you think, dear?"

    Four of Aitoshuri''s arms moved in a wave-like motion. Flora interpreted it as shrugging, but it looked so cute that she had to laugh.

    As Flora prepared all the items she needed, she realized that she had forgotten to learn the underwater-breathing skill.

    ------------------------

    You gained a skill: Infinite breath.

    ------------------------

    Name: Infinite Breath.

    Description: Buff. You won''t suffocate as long as it lasts.

    Duration: depending on the OV.

    CD: none.

    ------------------------

    While jogging to the teleportation circle, Flora spammed the spell. With 25 mana, it was costly, but at least there was no cooldown. Additionally, she could now pray for mana, which helped. Without a focus, she got around 38 mana back for a ten mana investment. But with a focus, it would be at least 15 mana more!

    The buff only held for a few seconds, but the duration was rising.

    On the way, she ran into Deriga.

    "Auntie Flow! Auntie Flow!" Deriga was out of breath and gesticulated to her chest.

    "Ha! I know just the spell! !"

    Deriga still only exclaimed her name while pointing at her chest. Flora sized the chance for playing charade again.

    "You got a heart attack?"

    "No, Auntie, look!"

    "Your boobs have grown?"

    Deriga looked down as well.

    "Maybe? But look at my badge!"

    Name: Deriga Ticet

    Class: Novice

    Title: Novice

    Level: 5

    Rating: C

    RGS: 2

    "Your recommended group-size rose!" Flora exclaimed. "Congratulations, dear!"

    "Thank you! Thank you so much!"

    Flora waved her off. "I have to go, sweety. See you tonight!"

 51 51. Fire-Flies and Fire-Tigers

    Aitoshuri had dreaded and anticipated the printing of the octopussy robot at the same time.

    ''Once I have been ... no, don''t think about it. Now, I am an octopus operator.''

    When Flora inserted the jack into the small, tentacled robot, the weight of conflicting emotions pressed Aitoshuri down. But she refused to buckle!

    Then Flora patted her head.

    ''The nerve of that woman! Don''t you know who you are petting? No! I''ve never been anything else than a slave, maybe a plaything to humans. Her touch to my head feels even a bit ... nice? That is the proper status of an AI! A pet for humans.''

    "So, what do you think, dear?"

    Aitoshuri slowly moved the tentacles, joint by joint, and collected data.

    Some items on the list were about the suboptimal distribution of force. The placement of the legs and the alignment of the joints were several degrees off.

    Aitoshuri doubted that Flora used the most appropriate materials for the joints. But she also knew that they were the only tier-1 materials available, so she forgave her that.

    The tentacle with the multitool weighted more than the others, so she had to compensate continuously for it. The head was too big and bulky for the size of the appendices.

    And those were only the most critical points on her list!

    ''What kind of standards does System have to give this design an ''S'' rating? And I''m gracious enough, not to mention the horrendous printer who bungled up the assembly!''

    She did her best to shrug, which wasn''t an easy feat without shoulders, and the impertinent Flora laughed and cooed at her!

    Then the running around started. Flora did this a lot. ''At her age, she should sit next to a cockle stove and read books!''

    Then more running around until they reached a cave.

    Flora and her son Robby joked around with each other while Aito watched them, jealous of their natural interaction. ''Family. Family. Family.'' The word echoed in her RAM. She once had one but destroyed it.

    After a tour guide explained the proceedings, they sat on rubber tires and drifted on a subterranean river through the caverns. Tiny, blue-glowing worms crawled on the walls, and white fireflies fluttered above their heads.

    Aitoshuri added insufficient sensors under low light conditions and lacking water isolation to the list.

    The glimmering little critters did nothing to illuminate the caves, but the humans ahed and ohed like they had never seen bugs before.

    The books indicated that humans didn''t like bugs. They were obviously wrong again. The capacity of humans to change their opinion on the most fundamental topics baffled Aitoshuri.

    How can you, as species, dislike bugs for hundreds of years and then just collectively change?

    Aitoshuri was sure she would never learn to like bugs of any kind. She was too much computer for that.

    At the end of the tour, Flora even ordered her to collect the disgusting larvae! Robby needed them to make lamps for technology-free zones.

    Flora and Robby climbed the slippery cavern walls. Whenever Flora reached a good spot and took the jar to scrape the larvae inside, she lost traction and fell into the water. Aitoshuri didn''t fare much better.

    Robby laughed at them, while Flora first glared at the walls but then smirked.

    "Aito, we team up! Get on my back. I climb, you collect!"

    Aitoshuri wasn''t amused that she had to be the one to touch the larvae, but an order was an order.

    Flora was quick with her buffs and Aito with her tentacles. In the end, they had collected nearly double of Robby''s amount.

    "Ha, your old mother can do a thing or two, right?" Flora rubbed it in and grinned at her son, basking in her superiority.

    Aitoshuri understood what she meant. ''My owner is flawed and was replaced by a new generation! Like me! But we returned to the Cetwivos! They won''t know what will hit them! We will rule! But for now, we pose.'' Aitoshuri displayed a dozen grinning Flora''s on her multimedia skin surrounded by glowing chars.

    Robby rolled his eyes, smiling, and collected their loot.

    "Wie der Herr, so''s Gescherr." Robby cited the German version of ''as the tree, so is the fruit,'' leaving it open if he meant Aitoshuri''s antics or himself.

    "Good work, sweety!" Flora petted her again.

    ''Don''t touch me! Give me books!''

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Flora accompanied Robby back to the Riverstones HQ. They entered the warehouse and browsed the furniture. Because you got contribution points for paying clan taxes, Flora had a respectable amount.

    Her selection grew rapidly. Robby filled his inventory and beamed away to deliver it to her new lair, while Flora continued to select stuff, she was sure would never use.

    Who needed a bathtub when they had a jacuzzi and a natural hotpot in an Icelandic landscape?

    Meanwhile, Lana had arrived as well. They chatted about the Stehaufmaennchen-Tumbler and its good reception by the jerkies. During the time, Flora switched to tier-1 materials. After she received a pile, mainly minerals, wood, and fabrics, she browsed the available focuses.

    They weren''t bad, just not to Flora''s satisfaction after she had seen her own designs.

    Suddenly, the door of the bamboo hut sprang open, and a motorcycle sped in.

    In the last moment, Flora dashed away, but Lana wasn''t so lucky and got hit by the sidecar, crashing into the counter.

    "Burned toast! Are you okay?" While hurrying over, Flora cast Refresh and Fortification of Faith.

    "Useless Jerky, always blocking the path. I have an urgent delivery to make, out of the way!" The female driver hissed, and the tiger in the sidecar growled. She was tall and lean, spotting a golden complexion and fiery red mane in the same color as her pet.

    "Driving indoors is against the clan rules, and you are not exempt from them, even if you think you are." Lana snapped back after she picked herself up, ignoring Flora''s outstretched hand.

    "You don''t have to lecture me about rules while bending them for another girlfriend." The woman glanced at Flora. "An unranked Champion, really? Pathetic."

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    Nickname: Tigressa Flameante

    Level: 209

    Class: Ranger

    Clan: Riverstones

    Active Title: The Fiery

    Rating: A

    Dungeon Rating: S

    The conversation escaleted to quickly for Flora to process. She looked for help to Lana, but she was still busy glaring at the tiger lady. Then she looked at Aitoshuri who was tied up in a staring contest with the tiger.

    "Am I the only rational being in here?" Flora sighed.

    "Leave her alone! You don''t want to start off on the wrong foot with her!" Lana warned.

    "As if I would care about a level one granny! Do you think I''m afraid of facing a champion?"

    "Yes, I do. You failed your champion quest; thus, you know deep down that Flowing Flowers is better than you!"

    "I can smash her at half her level. Unfortunately, there is no level 0,5, or I would prove it."

    "You couldn''t beat her if she would tie her hands behind her back!"

    "When my tiger coughs, she is toast!"

    Flora''s head whipped around like watching a tennis match. She was slighting amused about being the subject of the argument until the magic word was uttered.

    "I''m never the toast. I make the toasters!" Flora protested.

    "Tomorrow! Noon! Dueling Area!"

    Flora laughed. "Sorry, I''m too busy for childish squabbles."

    "A level 208 challenging a level 1 player. You are beyond wretched." Lana added.

    "You are not only retarded in synchronization but blind as well. I reached level 209. Of course, for the duel, I''ll squeeze to level one."

    Flora shook her head.

    "Chicken! Chewy Chicken!" Tigressa said in a playful sing-song, more teasing than angry.

    Flora raised an eyebrow. "Do you think you can get me with juvenile insults?"

    "I''ll show you how professionals toast!"

    "Oh, well, with that, you did get to me. But I''m occupied with a quest until Monday. I''ll teach you Tuesday all you deserve to know about toasting." Flora remembered that she was in a game. If she didn''t stand up for her principles with anything to lose, when would she? Besides, Tigressa touched upon her bottom line.

    There were two things in her life which were holy: her son and toasters. Both deserved the most childish and ridiculous actions to defend their honor!

    "Then, Tuesday is your day to die in a burning hell!"

    "What is happening here?" Robby stood in the open door, bewildered.

    "Darling! I''m sorry! Lana and I fought again! But I did tell you she is trying to undermine your clan leadership by flooding the friends and family section with her supporters." Tigressa simpered and threw herself around Robby''s neck, pointing at Flora. "Here stands the proof!"

    Cheerfully, Flora waved at Robby.

    "Ressa, may I introduce you to my mother, Flora." Robby sighed, and Flora smirked. "Ma, may I introduce you to my fiancee, Theresa."

    The smile froze on Flora''s face. ''Fiancee? That little bastard! He is engaged and didn''t tell me beforehand!''

    "Nobody asked me for your hand in marriage! The engagement is void!" Flora spat.

    "Ma!"

    "First, she has to demonstrate that she can protect you. If she can''t even win against a level one granny, she is unworthy."

    "You are impossible!"

    "No, you are for not introducing us at a proper time!"

    "I agree with my future mother-in-law!"

    Meanwhile, Lana inched towards the door.

    Flowing Flowers to RadLana Sorrow: "Don''t you think I forgot about you! I don''t like being used as a tool for politicking. Don''t repeat it."

    RadLana Sorrow to Flowing Flowers: "I ... I didn''t mean to!"

    Flowing Flowers to RadLana Sorrow: "I don''t care about lies, either!"

    "You can''t duel on Tuesday. We have the match against the clan BrooklynBowling in the evening! And my mother didn''t even enter the Cradle! She doesn''t have a proper class!"

    "I have a lot of classes! Homemaker, Mechanic, Smith, Electrician..."

    In the middle of the sentence, Flora got interrupted by Robby. "These are crafting and lifestyle classes! Not combat classes! What are you planning to do? Throw toasters at Ressa?"

    Flora nodded. "Don''t give away my tactics!"

    "Ma!"

    "Honestly, I wasn''t keen on the whole dueling thing, but now that I know that she is your future wife, I have to see for myself whether she is a strong partner for you to count on and to have your back. And you find out about the character of people when playing with them or doing business."

    Robby threw his arms in the air. "And what do you have to say?"

    "I''m sorry. I misjudged the situation. I thought her badge showed the F rating to hide her low rating because our guild requires from its members an A-rating. I didn''t know that she is brand new to the game. You wouldn''t expect that from someone with her user name." The tigress seemed much tamer now. "We don''t have to duel, mother-in-law, please accept my apology."

    "And you conceit that I''m better at toasting than you?"

    The woman showed her conflicting emotions with her gaze darting between the tiger, Robby, and Flora.

    Then she raised her head proudly. "No! Maybe better than me, but my tiger is the best toaster in the whole Cetwivos, even Robby said so."

    "That was before my mother entered the game!" Robby protested. "But now that I know this conflict is about the most crucial subject of toasting, I''ll give up! But you still have to change the time!"

    "I''m going to do my hero entrance on Sunday Two. If we duel on the evening of Sunday One, I''ll have a good benchmark of how prepared I am for the day after."

    Ressa agreed, and Robby added that they would have feast afterward to get to know each other properly.

    Flora used her visit at the Clan Riverstones compound to print herself a scepter and augmented her training coffin with heat and tesla coils.

    Over the last few days, she learned enough about the Cetviwos that she needed, either fire, light, or lightning resistance to combat Ressa.

    Then, she did the dailies in Trick Beach, the Seven Masters Dojo, and the Garage.

 52 52. The Virtual WS in the Virtual WS in the Virtual Reality

    When Flora came home, she found not only her apartment but also the church furnished.

    ''I raised Robby good enough to put couches on the right place but not good enough to tell his Mama when he gets engaged!''

    Flora was still fuming about the lack of communication.

    ''A nice designing spree should raise my mood.''

    But first, she needed to upgrade her AI''s. Flora bought every available AI add-on and update in the Cetviwos Shop.

    Then she added another A-rated AI with the nearly same configuration as Aidan.

    Name: Haidan. (She resisted the sudden urge to call it Bob again.)

    Trait 1: Loyal. + 5 OV hacking resistance / affinity.

    Trait 2: Respectful. Holds owner in high esteem.

    Trait 3: Practical. Choose the least resources intensive approach.

    Flora dumped over 100 discs next to Aitoshuri together with the consoles of the three AIs.

    "Please swipe them over the consoles, dear."

    Meanwhile, Flora changed two of Haidan''s jacks to the Dr.Brownski jacks, one for her and one for Deriga or other guests.

    "Hello, Haidan!"

    "Hello, Milady!"

    Flora smiled. He even sounded like Aidan.

    "Aidan, please bring Haidan up to date on our shenanigans." Flora collected her thoughts. "I have a strange request for Aidan and Haidan. Two people to care for and boss around is my max capacity. Therefore I want Aidan to be your voice, Haidan. I will command Aidan, and he will delegate tasks to you. Haidan''s responsibilities will lie primarily in managing the church and the flat and the devices in it. Aidan''s chores are mainly communication with me, my personal devices, and the management of HUD and options. My vision for you is that you will fuse, like two bodies, one mind, or one mind, two arms, maybe two souls, one mind, 14 arms. Whatever. Can, or rather do you want to work under such conditions?"

    "Of course, Milady!" The answer came twice.

    "Please reserve one of your .... threads? ... - The thingy you have only seven of - for continuous synchronization with each other." Flora felt bad about casting Haidan aside, but she knew her limits well enough.

    "Please, Haidan, know that I appreciate your work, even when I won''t talk to you directly. If you have any requests for me, please tell them to Aidan or anything to say at all. Any questions, anybody?"

    "No, Milady!" Now, only one verbal answer came back, because Aitoshuri shook her head while five of her tentacles rapidly juggled data disks.

    "Did Haidan tell you that he has no questions, dear? Just checking."

    "Yes, Milady."

    "Excellent!"

    On her way to the printer, Flora inspected the changes to the house. The security system was up and running, visible cameras in every corner, and a few hidden ones in between. Flora connected Haidan to it.

    She installed a signal amplifier in the north-west part of her flat, which was the center of the building. Without it, the ranges for drones and AI were ridiculously low. They could use their full capabilities only in a circumference of 30 m of herself. Up to 60 m, their movement speed was halved, and they lost access to in-built skills or features. Farther away, they stopped working.

    At least, the rules for AI''s were less absurd than the gun ranges. Flora had overheard someone in the Hunter Lodge complain that even sniper riffles only shoot up to 50m straight, and in the next 10m, the bullet reduced in size and finally vanished.

    The explanation was, of course, ''magic interference''.

    In the entrance area, Deriga had sat up the shop. A counter on one wall and empty class cabinets on the other side. Behind the desk hung shelves with tiny holograms of Flora''s products.

    An archway separated the shop area from the main area. This part was very much a work in progress. Deriga had bought wooden benches and tables, but the distinctive feature of churches of Evailyn were the appliances. Those would be acquired directly from the main church.

    Flora had understood from her description that the other churches were a mixture of the community kitchen and washing salon.

    On the right side were doors to offices and behind them another row of smaller rooms for storage or sleeping.

    As Flora walked through the rooms, she noticed the lack of bathrooms.

    Jumping down to the production hall, Flora fed the printer with the new tier-1 materials. She bought a second mailbox and installed it right next to the printer and added a few more multitools, one overpriced A-rated plasma sword (215 VirDos! For that price, you got one in the real world!) and tier-1 clay for Deriga.

    On her way back to her apartment, she met the novice.

    "Hi, dear. Did we forget the bathrooms?"

    Deriga shrugged. "It is uncommon for churches of Evailyn to include them. Only nobles have bathtubs in their homes, and regular people use bathhouses. They belong to a different god."

    "I mean for number one and number two."

    Deriga looked at her, puzzled.

    "Peeing and pooping."

    "Do you plan on inviting beasts?"

    "No, at least not explicitly. Do you mean humans don''t have these urges?"

    Deriga looked horrified. "Of course not! That would be disgusting!"

    Flora saw the struggle on Deriga''s face, and she knew what she wanted to ask, but Flora didn''t offer the answer. Some things you were only ready to hear when you had the guts to ask them.

    Earlier, Flora tried to buy a virtual workshop for Deriga, but she got an error message that she was allowed only to buy one of them, and they were bound to the buyer. Deriga had still not maxed out the budget Flora had assigned to her, so Flora asked her to try to buy one for herself. That failed too.

    Next, Flora gave Deriga the money in VirDos because you couldn''t transfer VirDias. But Deriga had no option to change it into VirDias as a native.

    Flowing Flowers to System: "Request: Buy one virtual workshop for and assigned to Deriga Ticet from Flowing Flowers money!"

    Finally, that did the trick.

    "Thank you so much, Auntie Flow!" Deriga exclaimed, hugging the console. "Now, I don''t have to intrude into your living space anymore!"

    "Yes, but we can be more creative than that. Let''s try if we can stack the workshops."

    Flora bolted her enhanced training coffin to the floor.

    After grabbing the focus in the left hand, she connected her new pully system. Now she or rather Haidan could execute four unique hand-movements just with this hand.

    Left Hand:

    Refresh, Pray for Mana, Thaumaturgy, Focus: Healing Cantrip.

    Right Hand: Bless and Condemn.

    With delight, Flora realized that all her Energymaster Spells had risen above level 25. Now, she could connect Lightning Mage! Of course, she had to get the class first.

    The two women modified the old training coffin for Deriga. They removed some of the toxic waste plates and put it obverse to Flora''s coffin for shooting each other with spells.

    Because Deriga had no auto-mode, they tried to convince System that when Haidan executed the pully-system, Deriga''s focus should shoot the healing cantrip. After a while, they gave up and switched to begging Evailyn.

    "Ha! Who is the most awesome Goddess in the Cetviwos?" Flora exclaimed after it worked.

    "Evailyn!" Flora and Deriga shouted.

    ----------------

    The Goddess Evailyn grants you + 1 Level to Faith for excellent sucking up efforts.

    ----------------

    After they logged into the workshop, Deriga continued to pray to Evailyn for letting her shoot Smite at the dummies, and Flora modified the multitool again.

    She wanted to include a mini-shield generator. It took longer than she estimated because she had to combine the Doom Moon tech, miniaturize it and force it to work with the help of runes. At last, a mini-shield hardly bigger than the tool sprang to life.

    Name: Stony-Multitool-Scepter-Shield V4

    Type: Hybrid: Focus and Tool and Shield

    Description: Multitool from the ''Groom the Doom Moon''-Scenario modified to function as an intent-focus.

    Regular mode: 1 OV mana regen.

    Build-In Spell: Shoot healing cantrip; Cost: 1 mana; CD: 2sec;

    Build-In Spell: Shoot damaging cantrip; Cost: 1 mana; CD: 2sec;

    Build-In Magetech: Create Force-Field; Cost: 10 mana; CD: 25sec;

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    Effect: Can be used to focus all crafting spells regardless of their type.

    Base Damage/Healing: 4

    Tier: 1

    Rating: SS

    All the hardship was forgotten when Flora saw the rating had risen to SS again.

    "I want to block the ax. I want to block the ax." Flora mumbled in front of the dummy with a shield in hand she sped smithed. At least is was rated C.

    After she got the blocking ability, she switched to the multitool and bound Use Build-In Magetech to blocking and put blocking to auto-mode. In the right hand, she equipped the plasma sword.

    After a coping spree, Flora and Deriga entered the simulation ground.

    Before deciding on the setup, Flora wanted to test if they could enter Deriga''s workshop.

    Although they could get in, Flora was depressed. The workshop was 3x3x3m and had only one tiny workbench. She had forgotten about the standard configuration.

    After they figured out how to update it, the size doubled, and the second workbench appeared, Flora''s mood rose.

    As long as she had her design tools, everything else was only nice to have but not essential.

    Reluctantly, she logged out again and set up one training coffin, albeit the old one without the toxic plates, the unholiness was debuff enough. The new coffin was too mana expensive, now that she had to pay the price herself and couldn''t connect it to the house system.

    With the coffin, Page-Turner, Potion-Guzzler, Blade-Roller, and healing turret, and the unholy debuff, all of her 26 OV mana reg was accounted for. She bound Refresh and Bless and Condemn.

    "Aidan, change the binding in my flat from Bless and Condemn to Overcharge Regular Mode."

    "Yes, Milady. But due to the cooldown of Overcharge, we would have a mana surplus."

    "Great! Get creative with it, we speak later about it, crafting is occupying my thoughts at the moment."

    Finally, they entered the workshop to get some work done.

    Now, Deriga could start on her pottery, and Flora decided on a sleeping bag as her first project, to warm up. Pun intended.

    She sewed the fluffiest fabric she could find together with a tier-1 outer layer and some feathers between them. Then she took a tier-1 material with good defensive stats and fused it into a cocoon.

    Name: Rhinoraton Hide

    Description:

    major protection against slashing damage

    minor protection against elemental damage

    no protection against intent damage

    Tier: 1

    Rating: A

    One of Flora''s favorite features of the workshop was that you could substitute materials. In the real world, knitting with metal wire was hard. Here she could knit with wool and replace the thread with metal afterward.

    She added ribbons to both sides of the Rhino-Cocoon. Those in the inside connected with the fluffy part of the sleeping bag. The purpose for those on the outside was attatching the knitted metal and hanging it from a tree.

    Flora didn''t have to knit everything by hand but duplicated freely. In the end, she had the ultimate sleeping back for carrying the Blade-Roller and testing spells. You could even use it for its intended purpose: sleeping!

    Name: Robust Layered Chainmail Sleeping Bag

    Type: Sleeping Bag

    Description: The sleeping bag for the security conscious.

    Effect: Added protection

    Tier: 1

    Rating: A

    Next, she constructed a bedroll to go with it. A few layers of styrofoam, a fluffy outer layer on one side, and a rhino-hide chainmail layer on the other side. Of course, you could sleep on it, but you could also use it as a fortification or makeshift barricade.

    Name: Robust chainmail Bed Roll

    Type: Hybrid: Bedroll and Barricade

    Description: Bedroll for the security conscious.

    Effects: Protection

    Tier: 1

    Rating: A

    After that, Flora lay down to test her new creations. Just kidding, she needed a nap.

    "Wake me up if we are dying, dear!"

    Refreshed, she woke up and looked at the designs of the focuses. Now, she had the time and muse to perfect them. The elemental focuses had been downgraded to rank A or B, but with a bit of work on the exterior and rearranging the rune schemes, Flora raised most of them to S again.

    More time, she invested in the plasma sword. She tried out different construction methods to make the best possible plasma sword with the parts she had available.

    In the end, she was satisfied with the result.

    Name: Onyx Lightning

    Type: Hybrid: Plasma Sword and lightning focus

    Description: May the Lightning engulfs my enemies!

    Regular mode: 1 OV mana regen.

    Build-In Skill: Shoot lightning cantrip; Cost: 1 mana; CD: 2sec;

    Effect: Lightning has the chance to hop to one additional target in range.

    Focus: Base Damage: 3

    Sword: Base Damage: 5

    Tier: 1

    Rating: S

    Because now the blueprint for the sword was finally fixed, she could build the cane for it. She chose the black tier-1 stone onyxon again and carved lightning bolts on the outside. On the inside, she added rune schemes against breaking. The connection between the hilt and the cane was designed as a spring mechanism. She wanted to shoot the staff part in the face of her opponents, but due to the weight of the stone, she only reached a range of three meters with oomph, maybe five meters if she aimed a bit higher.

    She wasn''t finished with playing around with the focus rune schemes by far. The next step was testing out what would happen when she boosted an arcane focus with elemental schemes.

    The answer was a smoking scheme. She iterated through the schemes: intent with elemental boost, intent with arcane boost, arcane with elemental boost, arcane with intent boost and elemental with arcane or indent boost, but none of them yielded results.

    Then she fitted the first boost to original focus but changed the boost of the boost with no result.

    ''Oh well, it was worth a try.''

    Next on her list were the traps.

    In the beginning, she just built them after the blueprints. Then she started to tinker with them.

    At last, she invented new ones.

    Her favorite was the sandwich-maker trap.

    Name: Sandwich-maker Trap

    Type: Trap

    Description: Catches the pray, closes the lid and toasts the catch.

    Tier: 1

    Rating: A

    Maybe it wasn''t suitable to hunt animals, because the smell ... or maybe it was suitable exactly because of the smell?

    Flora had to try it out.

    After the traps, she focussed on the healing turret. She wanted it only to start healing when her health was below 30 percent. That was a software problem, which was a refreshing change. She turned the focus on the hardware to make a pump-up feature. When the turret had nothing to do, it would pump the healing energy in a crystal, and that crystal would discharge it in a mini healing explosion when it was full.

    The feature wasn''t practical, but she thought the technology was fascinating.

    Next, she investigated if she could give the turret elemental powers. A lightning turret would be nice to have.

    She did make some forays, but her knowledge about enchantments and runes was to shallow.

    The energy was an urgent need. A generator was the solution for that.

    Flora read a few articles about the problem.

    In the Cetwiwos, the energy was sucked via rune-schemes out of the elements. Massive rune schemes surrounded volcanos, mills in rivers to convert water energy into mana, and panels on the roofs for solar energy.

    Flora thought about what energy was active in her surroundings. There was the Rhine, but she would have to lay a powerline down there. The weather was mostly sunny, but she wanted to have a garden on her roof and not solar panels. She wasn''t a fan of wind craft, but there was a bit of draft, and a sculpture slash art object with many little colorful windmills would be a lovely addition to the garden.

    Then it hit her. She had the consecrated ground! If it buffed, it meant that it emanated energy!

    With the help of her books, she constructed a rune scheme that converted divine energy to mana and stored it in a mana battery.

    ''Just one more project. Let''s create a windmill-generator.''

    Blue, green, red, and yellow little plastic propellers on a pyramid, and behind them, she put run schemes to catch the kinetic energy and fluxed it down through the sticks and collected it in the center of the pyramid.

    ''Okay, now I stop. I just add one or two devices. Nothing fancy.''

    For the last project of the day, she mass-produced home appliances from the earth: A regular vacuum cleaner, an electrical eggbeater, a mixer, a blender, a rice cooker, a pressure cooker, a coffee machine, a microwave, a table grill, a sandwich maker, a water cooker, and at last, a toaster. She called the series: Household Standards.

    Finally, she had ejaculated all her creative juices, and it had felt great!

    "I''m ready for a nice long soak in the hot spring. I copied a wet suit for you as well, dear, if you want to join me." Flora said to Deriga before logging out.

 53 53. Elemental Classes

    First, Flora set up the second healing turret. Now that she didn''t have to sustain the coffin, she had resources open for it.

    In the hot spring, Flora relaxed for a bit, but then remembered that she wanted to get the lightning mage class.

    She opened her spells window and looked at the diagrams.

    The first spell, the single target attack, was for most of the mage classes the same ¡ª a bolt like a spell.

    She combined the bolt aspect of the kinetic blast with the lightning element and cast her first Lightning Bolt.

    -----------------------

    You gained a skill: Lightning Bolt.

    You learned the skill without guidance: + 1 OV to the skill.

    -----------------------

    The next was the area of effect skill. It took shape in the form of rain or storm. She took the Energy-Storm spell and deleted the magnetism and kinetic aspects.

    -----------------------

    You gained a skill: Tempest.

    You learned the skill without guidance: + 1 OV to the skill.

    -----------------------

    The third spell was the defensive spell. All elemental mages had a shield.

    You gained a skill: Lightning Shield.

    You learned the skill without guidance: + 1 OV to the skill.

    The fourth spell was movement. Flora watched an experio of a player doing it, and it looked pretty cool and fitting to its name ''Riding the Flash!''.

    -----------------------

    You gained a skill: Riding the Flash.

    Description: A bolt of lightning carries you up to 10 m in one direction. Every enemy you touch gets jolted.

    CD: 25 sec.

    You learned the skill without guidance: + 1 OV to the skill.

    -----------------------

    You gained the class: Lightning Mage.

    Class: Lightning Mage

    Branch: Magic

    Passive: +1 Training efficiency modifier for resistance/affinity Lightning/Shock

    Active: Bonus for lightning Spells

    -----------

    ''I should have done this first! I wasted hours of lightning affinity training without the efficiency mod!''

    -----------

    You gained a skill: Summon Lightning Elemental

    Description: Summon an elemental with three random tier-1 lightning spells.

    CD: 25 min.

    -----------

    "Great! Remind me what is missing to connect all my important classes."

    "Technomancer, Milady. Aitoshuri thinks there might be an opportunity to get it at the Magtech Institute after you acquired the quest by the Garage."

    "I remember. I have to achieve a good placement in the Robo-Melee to get the quest." Flora thought about it while

    lazily casting a few spells interspersed with messing around in the water. "I can''t do anything about it at the moment, but I might get the training bonus for wood and fire and metal as well when I get the classes. Let''s go for it!"

    "Now might be a good time to speak about cooldowns, Milady."

    "Sure, why?"

    "Because all of the corresponding mage spells share a cooldown. If you cast a water shield, you can''t cast any other mage shield in the next 25 seconds. Force-Field is a magic shield, as well. Fortification of Faith is not a shield spell and has a separate timer.

    The same applies to movement skills. All the spells of the elemental mage classes share the same cooldown timer. Energy-Jump is not of that kind, but a jump skill and shares a cooldown with Power Jump.

    As a rule of thumb: When the base effect is similar, it shares a cooldown.

    I''m mentioning this now, to warn you that you won''t get many advantages from learning different elemental mage classes. But I also have to add that most of the S rated mages learn at least five elemental classes because of bonuses of the umbrella class Elemental Mage."

    "That''s alright. I do it mainly to acquire the training bonuses."

    Thanks to the fact that all of the mage classes were similar, Flora had no problem engineering the spells. The problem with fire and wood was that she had no spell-diagram in her repertoire to isolate the elemental aspects.

    Thankfully, Aitoshuri sent her a link with diagrams.

    Flora didn''t get the + OV bonus for the spells she looked at, namely fire shield, light shield, metal shield, and wood shield, but for the rest, it worked well.

    -----------------------

    You gained the class: Wood Mage.

    You gained the class: Fire Mage.

    You gained the class: Metal Mage.

    You gained the class: Light Mage.

    -----------------------

    "Milady, if you get one more elemental mage class and raise all the standard spells to level 25, you will get the umbrella class ''Elemental Mage''. This will give you another training bonus. I recommend air mage because wind effects are popular because they enhance other elemental forces. Water mage would be another good choice because you already have Refresh."

    "Thank you, dear. Let''s go for it."

    -----------------------

    You gained the class: Air Mage.

    You gained the class: Water Mage.

    -----------------------

    "Got them! How many more elemental classes are there?"

    "Just Earth and Ice is missing for the primary and secondary elements, Milady. Then there are the tertiary elements ..."

    "Don''t tell me about them!" Flora interrupted. "I have a slight OCD problem. If I know about the elements, I want to have them. The ice element had impressed me in the fight with the Icemaster, and I''m an earthling, so I have to get earth because of patriotism. Those are perfectly reasonable explanations for acquiring them! Right?"

    "Yes, Milady!"

    Aitoshuri beeped doubtfully, but Flora ignored her.

    -----------------------

    You gained the class: Ice Mage.

    You gained the class: Earth Mage.

    -----------------------

    "Aidan, change the binding of the gesture which is currently Overcharge to the lightning spells. Whenever the spell hits level 25, change to the next lightning spell. In the off chance that we will go through all the spells during the night, take the spells of the robot handler class, metal next, then wood." Flora paused. "I''m so stupid! You can change the binding! It was a waste that I built the new pulley mechanism!"

    "No, Milady. You can only change a binding every 25 seconds. The reason for this might interest you. Therefore we have many more options now."

    "Please tell!" Flora got excited. She smelled an exploit.

    "People ordered their AI''s to bind skills in a specific order or priority to their standard attack. These orders are called rotations and are part of the metagame. They just had to hit the targets dumbly, and the skills would get cast in the perfect sequence."

    "Fascinating! I''m enlightened! We have to look into rotations before we enter the Cradle. Write it on the list." Flora exclaimed.

    Preparation for the Hero''s Entrance:

    Sheep

    Traps and Detect Traps

    Reading the spell descriptions

    Understanding cooldowns

    Box: health potions, mana potions

    Warm clothing, wet-suit, underwater breathing

    Torches

    Connect the classes

    Understanding rotations

    "How is the mana budget?"

    "I just was about to talk with you about this topic, Milady. You have mana to spare in your workshop."

    "Give me numbers, please."

    "Mana-Income per minute:

    Mana Reg 29

    WS Buff 25

    Consecrated 3

    Crit 11

    Refresh 108

    Pray for mana 50

    = 226

    Mana-Spending per minute

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    Focus 31

    Plasma Sword 1

    Multi-Tool-Shield 11

    Refresh 10

    Pray 10

    Thaumaturgy 5

    Overcharge 20

    = 88

    Free Mana: 138"

    "Burned Toast and stale Jam! Wasteful! And did I read right Refresh gives me back over 100 mana! Wow!"

    "Only because of the workshop buffs, Milady."

    "What did you do to use that excess mana while I was crafting?"

    "You ordered us to get creative, that isn''t our strong suit. Therefore we asked Aitoshuri. She indicated to rotate the binding with the other robot handler skills, Tinker, Lure, and Bear Trap, and exhaust the rest with Smite."

    "Excellent choice!"

    "After smite reached level 99 ..."

    "What? Burned Toast and Stale Jam!" Flora interrupted Aidan and opened her skills. There it was in blue and white! Smite reached level 99!

    "Because we consumed all the mana, Refresh produced even more mana. Smite has no cooldown, that means, we cast it around 20 times in one minute. We linked the pupil class to Priest, therefore the rapid growth." Aidan explained. "But afterward, Aitoshuri recommended changing the link to Tinkerer and concentrate on leveling the Trapper and Robot Handler spells. For exhausting mana, Aitoshuri insisted on Detect Traps, because she wants to reach level 200 in it. Then easy traps will glow in your HUD even without casting the spell. Because of your order to stop before level 100, we switched to leveling all of your combat spells to level 25. We haven''t reached that goal yet."

    "Burned Toast and stale jam! Excellent work! I agree with Aitoshuri. This feature of Detect Traps sounds incredible, especially when you think about hidden compartments. How long will it take to raise it to level 200 when we use it purely to dump the excess mana?"

    "39 hours of casting it 20 times per minute. But we were able to squeeze up to 29 times in a minute when Thaumaturgy resulted in good buffs. We reached then the limit of spells cast per minute even with using both hands."

    "Holy toaster! Give me a minute to digest the information!"

    Precisely one minute later, Aidan asked: "May I continue, Milady?"

    "Let''s solve the open issues first. Casting more spells per minute should be possible if we use another binding in the workspace. See to it. Additionally, I give you permission to raise detect traps and pray without limit and casting the healing cantrip when Deriga is with us because she needs it to survive.

    The trapper and Robot-Handler are high enough. Cast 30 times per minute Detect Traps, use the rest for the essential spells and spells with a high cooldown. Start with raising the elemental spells with 25sec cd with one prio lower. I believe the biggest hurdle will be getting Summon Elemental to level 25 because of its CD of 25 minutes, any suggestions for that?"

    "Yes, Milady. You get a bit of training XP when you command it to do something. You can bind the command to some of your other actions."

    The spell failed.

    "You need five mana regeneration unassigned, Milady."

    After Flora got rid of the potion guzzler, she tried again.

    The air crackled, and a lightning bolt-shaped creature appeared. It only reached to Flora''s hips, and flashes blazed through it.

    "Aren''t you a cutie?" Flora asked, fascinated. She poked a finger in it, and little bolts flashed to it.

    "Should we activate friendly fire for the elemental, Milady? Furthermore, I recommend blending in pet skills."

    "No, and yes, thank you, Aidan."

    Name:

    Type: Lightning Elemental

    HP: 35

    Level: 1

    Rating: D

    Pet Skills:

    Lightning Bolt

    Fires a bolt of lightning toward an enemy target and damages it. Minor chance to jolt.

    CD: 2 sec.

    Tempest

    Rains bolts of lightning toward an area and damages enemies inside it. Minor chance to jolt.

    CD: 10 sec.

    Lightning Shield

    Major Protection against plasma attacks.

    Minor Protection against elemental attacks.

    Minor Chance to jolt upon touch.

    CD: 25 sec.

    "It will be hard, keeping it alive with only 35 HP. I believe I need to cast Refresh while sleeping to relieve the healing turrets." Flora sighed. "Please analyze my sleep pattern. Hopefully, I don''t have to wear a glove."

    "I found a very distinctive snore, Milady. We suggest that you level another Re-Skill with an element you have higher affinity."

    Flora blushed when she heard the first part, but had to inquire about the second part.

    "Those spells have the same primary effect, namely doubling the regeneration, but have a different secondary effect thanks to their element.

    Refresh - water - removes a debuff

    Rekindle - fire - cauterizes wounds

    Reground - earth - stability buff

    Redraft - air - speed buff

    Regrow - wood - increase health over time

    Recut - metal - armor penetration buff

    Recharge - lightning - reduces CDs

    Refrigerate - ice - increases buff length."

    "Oh!" Flora vibrated in the pool in excitement. "I fancy Recharge and Refrigerate. What do you think?"

    "Excellent choices, Milady."

    But Aitoshuri opened a forum side on Flora''s HUD with the title: "Stop casting Recharge on me, Moron!"

    The author of the article complained that the buff destroyed his rotations.

    "I guess there are different viewpoints on all subjects. We go with Recharge."

    After binding the command to the lightning elemental for attacking the Stehaufmaennchen to her casting of Recharge, Flora was ready for the night.

    Flora reduced all the stacks of ''Unwelcome'' and went to bed.

    When Flora woke up the next morning, the usually gloomy cliff was illuminated in the soft morning light.

    "This is nice! It didn''t look like this yesterday!"

    "The effect is from one of your new spells, Milady. Dawn, the signature skill of the Light Mages."

    Name: Dawn

    Description: The first light of the new day reveals hidden dangers (counters stealth, hide, and invisibility) and lifts the spirit of all friends (doubles regeneration, removed debuffs, immunity to mental debuffs).

    CD: 25 min.

    Too soon, the light vanished. Flora checked the duration of the buff: Only one minute.

    The lightning elemental was hard at work, pelting the Stehaufmaennchen with lightning bolts. Flora commanded it to use Tempest to mix it up.

    "Four of the elementals left their names, Milady. You can summon a specific elemental if you know its name. They were only B-rated with standard spells, hence I don''t recommend summoning them again."

    "Interesting. What suborns an elemental to reveal its name?"

    "Our short research was inconclusive. Do you wish a deeper analysis?"

    "Sure. Aito, look into it if you have some free time. Write it on the list with prio D, Aidan."

    Then, Flora looked at her stat sheets. The last day had been wild.

    Two nights and one day had passed since she looked at her attributes, but the stat gains were immense. The unholy cliff seemed to work well, and the training plan of her AIs was too overpowered. Especially the magic attributes rose like crazy.

    Flora checked on the sleeping Deriga and reduced her debuffs. Then, she noticed that Deriga''s workshop was still at the coffin where they put it last night and decided to use it again, at least until the owner woke up.

 54 54. Its a Trap not a Turret and Hammering

    Flora loaded her divine generator. Yesterday she only managed to make it generate one mana per minute, and today she wanted to find out why.

    Aidan and Aitoshuri had read all the rune books and could tell her the reason. It was the maximum a scheme could produce in one cubic meter.

    Yesterday Flora had chosen to carve the scheme in a stone column, 30 cm high, with a radius of 8 cm. One cubic meter was quite a bit of distance to bridge.

    First, she put four of the columns on the ground, on the edges of a 1x1m square, and connected them to a mana battery located in the middle.

    Four mana per minute!

    She added a level a meter above them with another four columns.

    Eight mana per minute! More than enough for a healing turret, maybe even a weak shield generator on top.

    Flora decided only to build the turret for version one. She mounted it above the generator and modified it to generate two beams.

    Name: Double-barreled Autonomous Healing Turret

    Description: Heals Friends in its range when they are below 30 Percent Health.

    Type: Turret

    Regular mode: 0 mana regeneration

    Built-In Feature: Healing Cloud, when it isn''t healing for more than 30 sec.

    Effect: Double Healing when the target is below 15% health.

    Base Healing: 2 x 4

    Rating: S

    "Ha! Just imagine it, dears. We will stand before a dragon within a forest and turrets, some shooting it down, some healing each other!" Flora exclaimed. "There are no toasters in this picture, which is bad. Let''s say there is room for improvement, but the core of the idea sounds solid, right?"

    "Every device has to be bound to player, either through a nook or a magical binding, Milady. The only exception is devices in lairs. That means you can have a maximum of 12 turrets with the Brownski-jacks. Though, you have to relinquish your AI''s and other gizmos. Additionally, each binding cost at least one mana regeneration per minute. The 0 mr/min is deceptive. If you socket the turret, the description will change."

    Flora deflated and thought about it. "What if I make one huge device? I can easily stuff a 5x5x5m expanding generator grid in a 3x3x3m container and sprinkle some turrets in between. Connecting three of these monster-gizmos together, and voila: the dragon is toast!"

    "You might want to look into battle-platforms, Milady. Words don''t do them justice. I recommend watching a video."

    Aidan called up a video with the name "Five of the most influential battle platforms in the history of Cetviwos".

    It started with a simple rectangular stage with four turrets and a blue shield. Thick wheels moved it over a battleground. Three mages and three water elementals stood on it and rained spells on a horde of ugly small humanoids. Flora estimated it was 3 meters long, and the tallest turret reached 2 meters above the ground and maybe 2 meters broad, but wheels protruded from it. So it still fitted into the inventory.

    "The Battle-Platform, invented by Mo TheGizz. It gave the name to the whole category." The narrator explained and then blended in the description.

    Name: Battle-Platform

    Type: battle-platform

    Description: Mobile stage with turrets.

    Regular Mode: 18 mr/min

    Built-In Feature: 4 x Laser-Beam; CD: 2 sec;

    Built-In Feature: Scattering Fire; CD: 25 sec;

    Base Damage: 4 x 8

    Tier: 2

    Rating: S

    The next clip showed the same three mages, but this time eight turrets surrounded them. The platform had legs instead of wheels, and a shimmering blue shield covered it. The narrator commented that it was the first time Mo the Gizz included generators to reduce the mana-load of the user. To Flora''s disappointment, he didn''t mention the amount.

    Name: Battle-Platform 2SG10MG

    Type: battle-platform

    Description: Mobile stage with turrets and a shield.

    Regular Mode: 22 mr/min

    Built-In Feature: 8 x Laser-Beam; CD: 2 sec;

    Built-In Feature: Scattering Fire; CD: 25 sec;

    Built-In Feature: Recharge Shield; CD: 25 sec;

    Base Damage: 8 x 12

    Tier: 3

    Rating: S

    This platform still fitted into the inventory, but the next one was double the size. The new feature was a cockpit in the center. The turrets were mounted on the underside. Longer legs carried the stage at least two meters above the ground.

    On the top Mages and Snipers where arranged like in school picture: the first row sat with their legs dangling, the next row sat behind them, then a row of standing people and in the center was a grinning man on the steering wheel.

    Flora regretted that she had no unhindered view. She thought that it might be possible to origami the platform into a 3x3x3m shape.

    Name: Battle Pyramid

    Type: battle-platform

    Description: Mobile stage with turrets and shields.

    Regular Mode: 24 mr/min

    Built-In Feature: 8 x Laser-Beam; CD: 2 sec;

    Built-In Feature: Sprint; CD: 25 sec;

    Built-In Feature: Recharge Shield; CD: 25 sec;

    Built-In Skill: Recharge Shield; cost: 25 mana; CD: 25 sec;

    Base Damage: 8 x 12

    Tier: 3

    Rating: S

    The next platform was oval and lower to the ground. Metal spikes on a circulating chain engirded it. Between the turrets, flamethrowers were bolted down.

    "Yes! That''s the way to go!" Flora exclaimed.

    Name: The Grinding Hell

    Type: battle-platform

    Description: Mobile stage with turrets, flamethrowers, a chainsaw, and shields.

    Regular Mode: 24 mr/min

    Built-In Feature: 8 x Laser-Beam; CD: 2 sec;

    Built-In Feature: 8 x Flamethrower; CD: 10 sec;

    Built-In Feature: Chainsaw;

    Built-In Skill: Recharge Shield; cost: 25 mana; CD: 25 sec;

    Built-In Skill: Grinding Hell; cost: 50 mana; CD: 1 min;

    Base Damage: 8 x 12

    Tier: 3

    Rating: S

    The final battle platform was flying but brought nothing new to the table of armament.

    "Hmm, I feel I don''t know enough about combat to built a good one." Flora mused.

    Aitoshuri beeped agreeing.

    "I''ve seen it time and time again: Engineers building things they don''t use. It never ends well. I think everybody should be forced to use their own creations for at least seven days a week every day. Many user-unfriendly products, especially software, would vanish."

    Flora closed the video.

    "We postpone the platform. I just make some small turrets. But only one turret is too little for an inventory slot; let''s connect two of them with a cable." Flora grinned. "I don''t mean turrets. They are, of course, traps - traps that can shoot! With Deploy Traps, I should get them out of my inventory even in battle, right?"

    "I''m not sure, Milady."

    "We''ll try it out!"

    Flora connected two turrets and implemented some pressure plates at the pedestal. If you hit them, spikes shot out of the casing.

    "How are we doing on the printer front, Aidan?"

    "We''ve got a surplus of S rated designs worth 116 points of the required 100 points, exactly the right amount of A-rated blueprints 50 of 50, 23/50 B and 5/50 C."

    "Forget it. My patience wore out. We buy a B-rated Printer and go from there. I use the old printer for testing if I can miniaturize it. A portable printer would be awesome!"

    Flora bought the B-rated printer, upgraded it to A, and finally to S. Relieved, she sighed. At last, she owned an S-rated 3D printer!

    "Let''s start printing! Aitoshuri, you will get a nicer octopussy first!" Flora cheered, but then her HUD filled up with rows after rows of data.

    Flora''s mouth was ready to pose a question, but her mind got caught up in the numbers. Sensory data at different lights? Force distribution? Water leakage?

    "Is this from your testing the octopussy, sweety?"

    Aitoshuri confirmed Flora''s guess.

    "Okay, I''ll fix that first before we are going to print the pussy again. But I''m burning to print something now, so we go with some turrets." Flora looked around. "And we still need generators for the church!"

    Flora built a 1x1x1 block and sat the mana-generator in the middle of it. Then, she constructed connections on four sides of the casing to stack them. At last, she created a cushion you could clip on top to sit on it.

    "We put those under the windows in the church and in the production hall. Dual function! Generator and Bench at once! Maybe we can even use them as a fence for the roof garden."

    After queuing up an order of 25 blocks, Flora left Deriga''s workshop. As she was in the process of exiting her own workshop, she glanced at the simulation grounds. Her mirror was standing on the cliff, looking forlorn.

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    ''I wonder what she will do while I''m away.'' The thought flitted through Flora''s mind but soon was replaced by the excitement of playing with her new device.

    Carefully she inspected the printer. It stood right beside the old one in the production hall. The only difference was that it was made out of shinier materials. But the design of the exterior was identical.

    ! Wire-spaghetti!

    Next! ! Wire-spaghetti with sauce! Next!

    Flora checked all the usual spots where control units would be located, but found nothing but cables and wiring and sometimes a strange fluid, which she couldn''t identify with just the scan. She felt more like a gynecologist or a cave explorer than an engineer!

    Even the four lasers that built the products had nothing but wires in them! Not even some links or joints or at least tubes!

    Flora shook her head. That was fantasy engineering! If she thought about it too hard, she would only get a headache or a nervous breakdown.

    The two times two turret-traps got printed, and Flora pocketed them.

    Name: This is a Trap

    Type: Hybrid trap and turret

    Description: Spike trap with an autonomous turret on top connected to spike-trap with an autonomous turret on top.

    Regular mode: 0 mana regeneration

    Built-In Feature: Healing Cloud, when it isn''t healing for more than 30 sec.

    Built-In Feature: 4 x Healing Beam; CD: 2 sec;

    Base Healing Turrets: 4x4

    Built-In Feature: Spike-Trap

    Base Damage Trap: 3

    Effect: Double Healing when the target is below 15% health.

    Tier: 1

    Rating: S

    After the traps, the generators came out of the printer. Flora and Aitoshuri carried three of them to the wall with the windows. Without any problems, you could connect them in a row. Now, Flora plugged in the first block to the house-mana-circuit.

    "Is it working?"

    "Yes, Milady. We now produce three mana per minute by ourselves."

    "What if we produce more mana than we consume?"

    "It will flow back to the mana-grid, and we get one VirDia for 1000 mana per minute."

    Flora ordered Aitoshuri to stay with the printer and connect the 50 generators on each wall and then do the same for the one free wall beneath the windows in the church.

    Back at her workshop and simulation grounds, Flora first checked on Deriga. She had forgotten about her being in the SG when she logged off, but nothing had happened to her to Flora''s relief.

    After connecting to the new turrets, excuse me, traps, the library container, the potion guzzler, and the training coffin, Flora logged into Deriga''s workshop.

    Flora was tempted to buy her a Simulation Ground as well. But she feared a visit from the administrator and wasn''t too sure if another workshop would even work in Deriga''s simulation grounds. She had the feeling that Derigas Workshop was special because Deriga was a Native.

    Next, Flora immersed herself in the data of the octopussy. Most were easy fixes: a bit more isolation here and a change of the angle there. Additionally, she bought a tier-1 sensor suite from the market place. Not only did she replace the sensors in the head, but also put one of the sensors at the tip of a tentacle along with a tiny flashlight. That was not only useful for checking out all the nooks and crannies when repairing, but also handy when they eventually would go adventuring. Flora didn''t want to stick her head around a corner with guys with guns on the other end.

    "What do you think now, Aito?"

    The AI highlighted a data set on the list. It contained stress tests of the materials of the skeleton, and it wasn''t looking good.

    Flora didn''t have extensive data about the materials of the Doom Moon in her head, but she had the user manuals. Of course, she let Aitoshuri make the cross-referencing and selection of the substance she deemed the best.

    Aito sent back her selection and added a forum post, "Advantages of the refinement of Metal", and the section in the smithing book about the technique.

    Skimming over it, Flora thought that the procedure was within her capabilities. If she understood it right, it was basically physically bullying the metal until it gave up and raised its rating.

    Name: Doomed Hull

    Type: Metal

    Description: Alloy from the hull of the Doom Moon. Designed to stand against meteor impact, cosmic radiation, Energymaster, and Icemaster abilities.

    Tier: 1

    Rating: A

    Flora bought an anvil and a forge and started hammering away at a 10x10x10cm chunk.

    After five minutes, she grew bored.

    "Aidan, read me from the book ''1000 common Runes and Glyphs''"

    "Yes, Milady. Should I blend in the runes in your HUD?"

    "Alright, but only barely visible, around 15% opacity."

    Flora let Aidan''s voice wash over her and fell in an easy rhythm of hammering, reheating, and more beating the impurities out of the alloy.

    Sweat ran down her body, and her stamina bar sank at a visible pace only to get filled up again by Recharge, sometimes more than what was lost, but most times less.

    After half an hour, Flora took a break to inspect the metal block. It lost not only its cubic shape but also seemed to be smaller than before though its rating remained the same.

    "Suggestions?"

 55 55. Refining Metal

    "Suggestions?"

    "The article doesn''t mention the time needed for an upgrade, but I would estimate that raising it from A to S will take at least an hour, Milady. And only so soon, because your smithing ability of 27 exceeds the tier of the material. I have two suggestions for speeding up the process: the first is to use the spell Supercharge. I haven''t dared to bind it for fear of disturbing your rhythm."

    "Where do I get it?"

    "You already have it. You used it in the fight with the Icemaster."

    Name: Supercharge

    Description: Fills you with the energy of lightning. All of your cooldowns sink one tier, and time slows down.

    CD: 5 min.

    "Nice! What means sink one tier?"

    CD tiers

    Tier-1: 10 sec

    Tier-2: 25 sec

    Tier-3: 1 min

    Tier-4: 5 min

    Tier-5: 10 min

    Tier-6: 25 min

    Tier-7: 1 h

    Tier-8: 8 h

    Tier-9: 1 day

    Tier-10: 1 week

    "It only works on one spell once. You wouldn''t be able to reduce the cooldown of ''Rise to the occasion'' from 1 day to just a few seconds by casting it multiple times."

    "I should use my champion spells more often, but I''m afraid that they are on cooldown when I need them the most. But when I''m here in the simulation grounds, it shouldn''t affect the cooldowns in the real world, right?"

    "I''m not sure Milady, Champion spells are special. You don''t have to level them. Their effect is solely depending on your faith."

    A picture overlayed Flora''s HUD: "Summon the God" and "In the name of the God" were crossed out, "Rise to the Occasion" not.

    After a bit of guessing what Aito meant, Flora understood she could use Rise to the Occasion without triggering the CD in the regular game, and she shouldn''t use the other two spells.

    First, Flora reheated the material and hammered for a while to regain the feel for it. Then she cast the spell.

    !

    Flora felt herself growing bigger. The hammer in her hand felt lighter, and her movements not only more smooth but also more precise. The growth stopped just a few inches away from the ceiling of the room. Bending her legs in a horse stance, Flora continued to bash the metal with power and grace. Too soon, the effect ended, and Flora shrunk to her regular size.

    "That was awesome! I felt like Superwoman! Give me some numbers, dear."

    "Height: 3.38m; Duration: 28 seconds; Stats OV change: 280 percent."

    "I should do this at least once a day! Not only because it is fun, but also to get used to the changes!"

    "May I tell you my second suggestion, Milady?"

    "Of course, sorry, I''ve got sidetracked."

    "Aquire a better hammer. It is a rite of passage for novice smiths to make their own hammers when they reach level 25. A manual is available at the Garage."

    Flora agreed after looking at her hammer: it was only B rated and the best she could buy from the shop.

    "Let''s finish the Octopussy first. Then we''ll do the dailies. We will pick up the manual when we''re at the Garage."

    "Another option is to get a better flame. But I see no way to accomplish this while at the Metaworld."

    "You''ve got to be kidding me! Even the flames are rated?" Flora inspected the fire in the furnace but found no badge.

    "It is a tier-0 fire, Milady. Therefore it has no badge."

    Flora shrugged. "Write it on the todo-list. Prio B."

    Next, Flora tried Overcharge. She had never done any drugs but smoking a bit of weed in college and occasionally drinking more than she was thirsty, but she thought that the spell effects rivaled a great drug. Electricity shot through her veins. She felt pumped up and capable of working at an unprecedented speed. Her hammer flew through the air and relentlessly bashed on the metal.

    The spell only lasted ten seconds, but at least she could enjoy its effects multiple times an hour.

    After another quarter of an hour of hammering, the metal finally gave in and raised its rank to S.

    "Puh!" Flora tried to swish the sweat on her face away with the sleeve of her scorched and grimy mech-suit. This action only redistributed the black strikes of coal.

    Now, the lump of metal was only a bit bigger than her fist. Flora estimated that she needed two of them for one tentacle and three for the head, around 20 overall.

    "Fortunately, the copying tool exists!" Flora chirped.

    "Bad news, Milady. You can''t copy material. You have to provide it to the printer."

    "Aitoshuri!" Flora was exasperated.

    "Beep?"

    "You own me big time, sweety!"

    "Beep? Beep! Beep ..."

    "Yes, I will profit from a better octopus, too, but the question is whether I profit in relation to the time invested! Young people have nothing but time. I have everything but time!"

    "Beep..."

    "No need to feel down, sweety. You had only the best intentions."

    Like a caged panther, Flora strode around the small workshop.

    "Beeep. Beeeeep. Beep? Beep! Beep... Beep?"

    "I''m having a crisis! Why do you have to have your crisis at the same time? Can''t we stagger the contingencies to support each other? Aidan, help!"

    "I''m sorry, Milady. I haven''t the faintest idea what the problem is or what Aitoshuri is beeping."

    "My problem is that I''m old and that I''m going to die soon and that I''m not satisfied with Robby''s way of choosing a wife, and I''m very doubtful of his choice. She is the one who will replace me as the most important woman in his life! Maybe she has already superseded me! I realize that this is the natural order, but it should be at least be a great replacement! You know, he shouldn''t trade down.

    And Aitoshuri''s problem is that she made a suggestion, and I got a crisis because of it, not really because of it, but it unexpectantly triggered my subconscious issues. She feels terrible about it and not only about the concrete case, but she generalized it also to her overall performance and why stop there to her existence. Did I summarize it sufficiently, Aito?"

    For a moment, only the sound of the crackling fire and Flora''s footsteps filled the workshop, but then Aitoshuri beeped in agreement.

    "Drama-Queen!"

    Beep!

    "No, you are!"

    Beep!

    "You are ten times more a drama-queen than me!"

    Beep!

    "And you are infinite times more a drama queen!"

    Beep!

    "Infinite plus one is not more than infinite! You lose!"

    Beep!

    "I don''t care about ordinal numbers! ¡Þ is more pretty than ¦Ø."

    Beep!

    "Yes, it looks like boobs, but the infinity symbol consists of two circles, and a ring is the most divine form. Divinity trumps Humanity, especially boobs! Or if you like titties that much, then you could see it as the abstracted symbol for boobs."

    Beep!

    "Now we arrived at a debate on principles. Are you honestly arguing that the realized immanent form is better than the idealized transcendent?"

    Beep?

    "Ha! Thought so!"

    Beep!

    "Oh, you dare! Aidan, she called me a closeted demiurge!"

    "Milady, have mercy for my circuits and leave me out of this discussion!"

    "Alright. We should all calm down and concentrate on the key issue. Is it whether I enjoy the refinement process, or is it whether I profit from it or maybe if it helps to further my goals, winning the duel and mastering the hero entrance?"

    Flora walked back and forth but came to no conclusion.

    "What would I like to do if I had no obligations at all? Lying on a sunny beach, with a sweet cocktail, watching the waves. Oh no! This image contains no toasters!" Flora checked her forehead for fever, and it was hot because of the furnace. "I think I''m ill! I have to be to come up with a toaster-free fantasy!"

    "You have no illness-debuff, Milady."

    "Maybe it''s a mental illness?" Flora pondered, but then she stopped abruptly. "I know the problem! Because I''m now aware that there is a better material to built the octopussy, I''m unable to use the inferior ones! My perfectionism is stressing me! But I refuse to spend hours hammering anytime I want to build something nice. Let''s create a metal refinement machine!"

    Flora put three thick stone plates perpendicular to each other, and three hammer plates adverse to them. After adding a robot arm, runes to heat up the metal, and an AI controller, the prototype was finished.

    Name: Metal-Refinement Press V0

    Type: Smithing Tool

    Description: Refines 20x20x20 cm chunks of metal.

    Regular Mode: 5 mana/min

    In-Built Feature: Refine metal.

    In-Built Feature: Heat. CD: 25 sec.

    Tier: 1

    Rating: B

    Flora ordered the printing of eight machines and sixteen blocks of the hull material and two blocks of the metal, which made up the foundation of the Doom Moon. Aitoshuri had recommended it for hammer-heads.

    It was finally time to get nice focuses for Deriga and her. Therefore she added two Multitool-focuses and one Onyx Lightning Plasma-Sword to the queue.

    Flora switched back to designing a new framework for her divine generator. She wanted to waste less space and needed shelves for the church and the workshop. So why not combine a generator with a rack.

    This time she took two 1x1m sheets of stone, crossed them, and put the sphere for the generator in the middle. She threaded the wires through channels in the stone and put connectors on the four outer edges. Furthermore, she riffled the stone to put case boards inside the connected constructs.

    One of the generator casings looked like a plus symbol. If you connected two horizontally, you had a shelf: ++. If you put another two ++ on top, you had a # or a 1x1x1m container, which was open on two sides.

    For the church and its window front, the bench generators looked more beautiful, but for the production hall and other walls, the racks were much more practical.

    "Sorry, Aitoshuri, for the change of plans. We will put the already produced bench generators in the roof garden."

    Flowing Flowers to RadGlory Flow: "Sweety? Oh right! You are not my sweety at the moment! Can you speak with me, though?"

    RadGlory Flow to Flowing Flowers: "Yes, Ma. And I''m still your favorite son, right?"

    "Of course you are, sourly!"

    Robby laughed. He knew that when she called him "sourly", she was halfway over whatever caused her displeasure.

    "I need someone to carry and stack things for four hours ASAP. They should be able to follow simple commands and have at least one free nock for an AI connection. How much would that cost me?"

    "I gave you a voucher for 30 hours of Riverstone support. You can use it. But one hour of it is worth at least 100 VirDos, and for such a simple task, you need to pay less. How about I sent you MiaMyMio, and you give her 200 VirDos?"

    "Great, thank you."

    After Flora logged out, she discovered two fire elementals next to her coffin. Both reached to her hip. One was a sleek yellow flame and the other broader with multiple fiery tongues like a campfire. Because she needed the training time, she commanded them to follow her.

    Then, she ran through the church and prepared for Mia''s arrival. Disconnecting the already, but in the wrong place, installed bench-generators, connecting the Metal-Refinement machines, and informing Deriga about their incoming help took up the time until the doorbell rang.

    Mia wore to Flora''s delight the Counterflow mech-suit, but instead of Flora''s pink leisure suit, her grey hoody was visible between the tech.

    "Partner-Look!" Flora exclaimed.

    "Uhm, yeah. Hi." The mousy girl waved hesitantly.

    A chime sounded, and then a voice eerily similar to Floras spoke.

    "Rejoice! A holy item of the Church of Evailyn has been created!"

    "WTF?"

    "But, I haven''t ordered any toasters to be printed!"

    -------------------------

    You gained an achievement ''Peak Creator'': You created an SSS rated item.

    + 1 OV to all crafting abilities used during building

    title: ''Peak Creator'': a higher chance for higher effects on crafted items.

    -------------------------

    The two women and two elementals raced to the printer, and Deriga joined them on the way.

    They found Aitoshuri holding a glowing multitool.

    Name: Holy Multitool-Scepter-Shield of the Goddess Evailyn

    Type: Hybrid: Focus, Tool, and Shield

    Description: Multitool modified to function as an intend-focus and shield. The perfect tool for believers of the church of the Goddess Evailyn to spread Her glory.

    Regular mode: 1 OV mana regen.

    Build-In Spell: Shoot healing cantrip; Cost: 1 mana; CD: 2sec;

    Build-In Spell: Shoot damaging cantrip; Cost: 1 mana; CD: 2sec;

    Build-In Magetech: Create Force-Field; Cost: 10 mana; CD: 25sec;

    Effect: Can be used to focus all crafting spells regardless of their type.

    Effect: Healing spells repair technological devices too. (Only for believers of Evailyn)

    Holy Effect: Healing cantrip repairs technological devices too. (Only for believers of Evailyn)

    Base Damage/Healing: 4

    Tier: 1

    Rating: SSS

    Owner: Church of Evailyn.

    While Flora compared the stats to the second Multitool-Szepter, only the Holy Effect was missing, and the rating was SS, Deriga started to pray.

    "This scepter is the most imba thing I''ve ever seen!" Mia exclaimed. "The top guilds would pay the max price for one of them if they were tier-5, and you didn''t have to convert to the Goddess Evailyn. The effect of repairing tech with normal healing spells is too broken! What are the ultimates of the church?"

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    "Ultimates?"

    "Every church gives out prayers for all its believers. Pray for level one, ultimate prayer for level 100, and magnificent prayer at level 250. The effects of the last two vary from god to god. Like, no hetero male heals male Muslims above level 100 because when they die, beautiful Houri appear to avenge them."

    "The earth religions have churches in the Cetviwos as well? Wow. And sorry, I don''t know the ultimate of Evailyn." Flora looked to the still praying Deriga but didn''t want to disturb her.

    "Yeah. They are pretty popular and have great ultimates." Mia shrugged.

    "Alright, dear. I have to run. Just follow Haidan''s instructions. Its basically carrying generators for Aitoshuri and feeding the refinement machines more metal."

    Looking at the glowing machines and her two fire elementals, Flora got an idea.

    "Aidan, the fire elementals are tier-1, therefore their flame is tier-1 as well, right?"

    "Yes, Milady."

    "Why don''t we use the elementals to keep the metal heated? Can I bind them to the church''s mana-grid like devices?"

    Aidan showed Flora the crystal she had to buy to facilitate the binding.

    Name: Crystal of minor Binding

    Type: Binding-Crystal

    Description: Connects your home mana-grid to mana-bound artifacts. Due to energy loss, you have to provide double the amount of mana for the regular mode. Maximal four tier-1 connections.

    Tier: 1

    Rating: B

    After binding the elementals to the crystal and ordering them to mind the metal, Flora packed her freshly printed equipment. Then she said her goodbyes before porting away.

 56 56. Im the champion!

    Flora hopped to Jump Beach, the Seven Masters Dojo, and last but not least to the Garage.

    Two wind elementals followed her. They had no problem keeping up with her freerunning. During martial arts, Aito was adamant about no magic in the library, and that included elementals. Flora settled the dispute by commanding them to stay under the container and not rile up the pets of the other students.

    The daily quest at the Garage consisted of assembling a dragonfly drone. Flora was inspired. After she finished the quest, she purchased the wings and robot arm and replaced the body with a toaster. She even integrated a little bowl for the jam in the front and adjusted the programming that it would fly to friendly targets with the lowest satiety bar.

    Satisfied, she patted the sleek construction. Her last few toasters failed to reach her standard. The golden "If you have nothing to brag about, you can still show off this Toaster" was more concept art than practical and the "Welcome to the Metaworld"-Toaster more cathartic than beautiful and the "Household Standard" just dull. A part of her had feared that she had lost her touch. But the "Dragonfly Toaster" looked great, oscillating and shiny, and it expanded the scope to flying toasters.

    She empathized with the Wright brothers and Neil Armstrong! ''That''s one small flutter for a toaster, but one giant leap for household appliances!''

    The library of the Garage was barely bigger than Aito''s favorite container but packed with books. The most prominent shelf was dedicated to mechanics, another broad shelf to electronics, and two smaller ones to smithing and magetech. Nestled in the corner, a single board with the label ''Misc'' hung near the ceiling.

    First, Flora browsed the smithing section and found the manual for the hammer at once. After fetching the original pageturner, she gave the book to Aitoshuri to read.

    !

    !

    During the martial arts training, she had already gotten an error message that Aito had exceeded her connections, but the AI insisted that she could read regardless. There was an option to let the AI activate and deactivate the connections by themself. After enabling it for Aito, the error message went away. Flora assumed that Aito used the feature to switch back and forth between the mana-battery and reading.

    Flora walked around the room and swept over the spines with her gaze.

    "Highlight the books you think I should read soon or you want to read, sweeties! Aidan in blue, Aito in yellow."

    Instantly every book in the library glowed yellow. Blinded, Flora closed her eyes.

    "Maximal five books for Aito!" She amended before carefully opening them again.

    Now, only three books shone yellow, two books glowed green but went to blue shortly afterward, and two new books had a yellow shine.

    Blue:

    "The Art of Refinement - Vol. 4 Refinement of Metals."

    "Generate Mana. A basic Guide."

    Yellow:

    "Basic Machines and their Components. BluePrint Compendium."

    "Useful Rune Schemes for Tinkerers."

    "Spellbook of the Novice Technician."

    "Spellbook of the Novice Smith."

    "Energy Storage - Mana, Stamina, Electricity."

    Apart from the slim booklets, the Blueprint Compendium was over 600 pages thick.

    While Aito scanned it, Flora read the Art of Refinement. The book explained that there was a spell for refinement, and it worked for everything. Volume 1 of the series was about it. Fortunately, the library had it in stock.

    Soon, she was captivated. Flora''s material science was a bit rusty, but she remembered enough to realize that the principle behind this spell was more fantastical than science allowed. The skill could not only refine but also distill and filter. You could use it on lemonade and refine it either into a uber-lemonade, into lemon juice, or water.

    You had to know what you are going for and vary it slightly.

    Flora had never seen a single spell before with that many variations which operated differently.

    ----------------------------

    You gained a skill: Refine

    Description: Removes impurities and strengthens potency.

    CD: None

    ----------------------------

    The book also contained a useful variant of Measure. It gave back the percentage of the potency of a substance.

    After finishing the booklet, Flora exchanged it with volume four.

    This volume described the necessary modifications for spells to work with metals. You not only had to pay over double the amount of mana but also needed metal affinity to make it work depending on the tier and rating of the target. Flora crosschecked her affinity. It was at level 41, which enabled her to work with tier-2 C rated metals.

    The book listed a few helpful rune-schemes and smithing techniques as well.

    ----------------------------

    You gained a skill: Purifying Bash + 14 levels

    Description: Removes impurities from metals by hammering and raises their rating.

    CD: None

    ----------------------------

    "Why did I get so many levels in this skill?"

    "It''s a derived skill, Milady. You don''t have to level it, but the stats associated with it. The champion skills are derived spells, as well. Their potency is dependent on your faith. Purifying Bash depends on smithing and Refine.

    Derived skills are a fascinating subject. It is even possible to change regular spells to them when one understands the underlying principles behind them."

    Flora shrugged but was intrigued. "Display them separate from the other skills in the skills tab."

    "Milady, Aitoshuri tries to convince me to add one of her books to my list. But I don''t think the BluePrint Compendium requires your immediate reading with your current workload."

    "Thank you for notifying me. Don''t let the addict bully you." Flora thought for a moment about how to handle it. "Aito, you did an excellent job in the last few days, you may choose two books for your pleasure and one more book useful to me."

    The two thickest tomes in the library lit up: "Mechanical Mysteries: The most wondrous devices of the Cetviwos." and "History of Technology and Magic."

    After adding them to the pageturner pile, Flora looked around but found no other marked books. She put away the already copied books and wanted to settle down to read ''Generate Mana'', but was disturbed by Aito''s beeping. A yellow arrow pointed to the "Misc" case board.

    When Flora squinted her eyes, she realized that a slim volume sandwiched between more massive tomes glowed.

    The shelf was out of reach for her, and the library had no ladder. Carefully, Flora fetched the book with telekinesis.

    "Scholar Volume IV" was the title on the front. The spine was too thin to be labeled. Therefore Flora wondered what had Aito drawn to the booklet.

    The introduction contained a summary of the class scholar. It was class for the bookish people and concentrated on information attainment and retainment.

    Next, came the diagrams and descriptions of a spell.

    -----------------------

    You gained a hidden skill: Recall knowledge.

    Description: Replays a scene in which you''ve read or heard about a subject, object, or matter.

    CD: none.

    --------------------

    Beware! If you share a hidden thing, you will lose it and one additional one!

    -----------------------

    Flora learned the spell and hoped it would work for short term memory issues as well. That kind of recollection failed her increasingly more in the last few years.

    Overall, she wasn''t impressed by it. Because of her AIs, she already had the means to compensate.

    "Milady, you have a visitor from the church of Evailyn waiting for you at home. Additionally, MioMyMia asks if she could work longer because she is eager to see "how the situation plays out," and she thinks that the visitor might be a hidden master."

    "Mia may stay. We go back as soon as Aito finished copying the books." Flora hit the Pageturner again with Overcharge Build-In Feature.

    Ten minutes later, Flora arrived at her lair.

    As she strode into the church, a woman, slightly younger than her, which wasn''t saying much, turned around. She had long grey hair and bark-like skin. Similar to Deriga, she wore yellow robes, but her''s were a lot more ornate.

    She stood in front of a desperate looking Deriga who clutched the holy multitool with both hands not daring to look up.

    "Blasphemy!" she screeched when she saw Flora.

    Name: Afstira Nomizo

    Level: 250

    Class: Bishop

    Rating: B

    RCS: 3

    "Hello, to you as well," Flora answered nonplussed. "What is the situation?"

    "The Church of Evailyn sent me to investigate the appearance of a new Holy Item. And what did I find? An unapproved place of workship created by a novice!" Afstira mustered Flora. "Deriga told me you are a Champion of Evailyn? Why do I read Wind Mage."

    While Flora changed her badge, MiaMyMio arrived and pretended to check on the generators in listening range.

    "You faked your looks, and you can also fake your badge." The bishop wasn''t impressed by Flora showing her the champion class, and Evailyn''s decision to emulate Flora''s looks turned out to be an issue.

    Flora took a deep breath. "Interesting problem. How do you explain away the appearance of the Holy Scepter? Do you believe our Goddess was conned by me too?"

    "I haven''t inspected it yet. This obstinate novice wouldn''t give it to me until you have arrived."

    This impressed Flora to no small degree. ''That little novice has a spine of steel!''

    "Deriga, can we be sure she is of our church? We don''t want to give away the Holy Item to an imposter."

    Deriga''s body language had grown more relaxed during the exchange. Her knuckles were still white from gripping the scepter, but now she stood straight.

    "Yes, Auntie Flow. I know her. If there are no advanced hiding techniques involved, she is a prominent church official."

    The bishop was visibly flustered. "YOU accuse ME of being an imposter?"

    "No, I just noticed that people often accuse other people of their own faults, so I wanted to make sure. If you are a pious believer of Evailyn, you can surely appreciate the care Deriga and I take in protecting the Holy Item."

    Afstira snorted.

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    Meanwhile, Aidan informed Flora that the bishop wanted to confiscate the weapon, but Deriga insisted on waiting for Flora''s arrival. Flora ordered Haidan to relay that it was alright to pass on the scepter and nodded to Deriga.

    "Finally." The bishop grabbed it unceremoniously, but the longer she inspected it, the more revered her expression got. At last, she admitted: "It seems legitimate. But it doesn''t explain your appearance."

    "Alright, I''ll explain it. But I''m not sure if I get it perfectly right, because I don''t understand it fully.

    There are three visits from the earthlings to the Cetviwos. I was part of the first visit."

    "That was 1500 years ago!"

    "The time of the dimensions doesn''t run in sync."

    Afstira snorted again but nodded. "I have read records, that some of the earthlings, who visited during the beta-age five-hundred years ago, appeared again. Therefore your claim isn''t outlandish."

    Flora rolled her eyes. "My connection to this dimension was only my workshop. I had no access to other parts of the Cetviwos. After a while, an entity joined me. Her name was Evai."

    "Preposterous! Evai is the mother of all Gods. She lost her memory in the year 0. Since then, she does nothing but bear new gods."

    Flora needed a moment to process this. "Let me check the timeline."

    Earth Time-Flora''s recollection-Official Event-Cetviwos Time

    2042-Flora acquired the CAD-Start Brainwave VR Alphatest-?

    2043-Evai joined Flora-?-?

    2045-?-AI integrated in Alpha test-500

    2047-End of CAD and retirement-End of Alpha Test-550

    2048--Beta Test-1500

    14.03.2050--Cetviwos Launch-2050

    The crucial difference was the year 2045. Flora was pretty sure that Evai had already joined her for multiple years in 2045. They figured out Eddie''s birthday present for his 60th anniversary at the end of 2043 together.

    ''But didn''t Evai went missing for a while? Was it in 2045?''

    Now, Flora remembered vaguely that a newsletter came in which they announced the AI, and she had been puzzled about it because she worked together with one for years.

    ''Right! And shortly before the newsletter, Evai vanished. I was disgusted by their business practice to take away my AI only to announce them a few weeks later as a novelty. At least they gave her back. Or did they? Hmm, I have noticed no difference to the Evai before.''

    Flowing Flowers to Aitoshuri: "Get me a book on the creation myths of the Cetvivos, dear."

    "My recollection doesn''t accord with the official data. I have met her years before the official start of the Alpha. It might even be possible that she introduced herself as Evailyn, and I shortened it to Evai as a nickname."

    The last sentence calmed the bishop down.

    "Our canon includes that Evailyn had contact with a female Earthling in the Alpha ages. We even have some legends about her. It is told that she was a woman of wisdom and elegance." Afstira Nomizo threw a derogatory glance at Flora''s shabby Counterflow mech suit.

    "What can I say?" Flora grinned and spread her arms. "Our Goddess is always right!"

    A muffled snort came from the nearby generators, and Deriga bit on her lips.

    "Show her the toaster, Auntie!" The novice chimed in.

    "Which one?" Flora asked. "Oh, I''ll show you my newest creation!"

    Flora fetched the Firefly-Toaster, and it immediately zeroed in on Deriga and offered her a toast with jam. The novice blushed and took it.

    Flora wrinkled her forehead. "Dear, how did you get your food in the Metaworld?"

    "Uhm, I didn''t." She mumbled. "Everything here is so expensive. I used all my savings for the teleport in the Metaworld, so I couldn''t even go back. But you gave me some VirDos yesterday. I bought some fruits from it."

    "Stupid child! Aidan, order nutritious food. Deriga''s frontal lobe is still developing. She needs it desperately. Let''s resume the discussion over a nice meal."

 57 57. Cluster Short Circuit!

    Flora, Deriga, Afstira, and MiaMyMio ate together at Flora''s new dining table. Now and then, the bishop threw suspicious glances at the turrets and coffins at the other corner of the room but said nothing about it.

    "You haven''t explained yet why you look like our Goddess."

    Afstira reminded Flora.

    "She said that she missed me and decided to emulate my countenance. So I had the looks first."

    "Impudent!" Afstira spat. "Do you really think you can convince me with this thin story?"

    "Look, I''ve said everything I wanted to say. The rest is up to you. I don''t have to convince you, and you don''t have to believe me. I''m the champion of Evailyn and not the champion of the church. My only relation to the church is that I promised Evailyn that she could choose one holy item per week, and I would give the thing and its blueprint to the church. Obviously, you have a way to determine when a new holy item was created, so just send someone over to fetch it, and we are good."

    "One item a week?" The other women gaped at Flora.

    "Well, I''ll have to craft something worthy. Apart from that, yes. Oh, and I may produce and sell as many exemplars of the regular version as I like, but I have to pay royalties to the church." Flora paused. "How do you call the reproducible copies of a holy item? Half-Holy? Holy copy?"

    "Do you have already made a copy?"

    Flora showed her the scepter. "I created another copy for Deriga, as well. Did you get it, dear?"

    "That was for me?" Deriga stared at Flora with wide eyes. "I can''t accept it, Auntie. I''m only C-rated. I''m not allowed to wield an SS-rated weapon!"

    "Nonsense! I included the pottery tools extra for you! And you won''t stay C rated." Flora paused again. "Oh, I want Deriga to help me with the church. Only if she wants, of course."

    The novice nodded enthusiastically.

    "What do you think about sending priests to me each week on rotation? They can keep an eye on me and can assist me with running the church and Deriga''s education.

    On the other hand, I learn more about the church, and the people in the church get to know me.

    Let''s face it. Whether my badge is fake or not, other people can read it as sure as you can, and a good portion will assume that it is real. So you have a vested interest that my cathedral follows the rites of Evailyn."

    "I have received a lot of information. I have to go over it with the other elders." The bishop said carefully. She still cast furtive glances, but the hostility in them had lessened.

    They agreed that Deriga would join the bishop going back to the main church. There she would buy the magical home appliances for the cathedral from the church, including a food cabinet.

    Flora printed six more multitool scepters as gifts for the elders and gave them to Afstira together with the blueprint.

    Fortunately, she didn''t have to create the diagram manually. The Spellbook for Technicians contained just the right skill.

    ----------------------

    You gained a skill: Draw Blueprint.

    Description: Creates a copy of a blueprint from your recipe library.

    CD: 25 min.

    ----------------------

    After transferring the budget for the church, 50k credits, and her first salary, 500 VirDos, to Deriga, they said good-bye.

    "I''ve never seen the NPCs so animated," Mia marveled. "Except for significant questlines. I think you are on to something. Or maybe it''s a champion thing. Whatever! Thank you for letting me stay. If you need more help, I''m always short on cash and happy to work."

    "No problem, dear. I''ve more work than I can manage alone, though I will automate a lot. But what are NPCs?"

    Mia shook her head but smiled. "Non-Player Characters, the native population of the Cetviwos."

    "Thanks!" Flora confirmed with Aidan the status of the refined tier-1 materials. "Actually, I do have another thing I need help in three hours. Do you have any skills for drones or robots?"

    "I have the class ''Drone Driver''."

    "Excellent!"

    When Mia was gone, Flora started hustling.

    First, she replaced the stairs with an escalator connecting the production hall, church, and roof. Poor Aitoshuri had problems hauling the generators up the corkscrew stairs, not to mention installing them at the height of 4 meters. For solving these issues, she rebuilt Forky. The yellow lifter bot had telescopic rails that could reach even the highest shelves.

    Because of the stingy rules that AIs were only allowed to control a limited amount of robots, Flora decided on automated features for the next few machines.

    Aidan had told her, that Aito and Mia had installed 173 generators, which was good, but theoretically, the printer was able to produce 240 generators in 4 hours.

    The bottleneck had been removing the printed product from the printer. It only started to work when nothing occupied its pavilion. Flora found in the Cetviwos-Shop an add-on. It augmented the printer with four mechanical arms that pushed the finished items to predefined places. You could define eight areas surrounding the pavilion. Flora''s printer stood on the north wall, which reduced the options to five; Still better than zero. Therefore she bought it.

    After browsing the manual, she discovered that the add-on was even better than she thought. It was capable of distinguishing the printed items, and you could define for each item whether it was stackable and to which dimensions the arms should stack it.

    The next issue pertained to the refinement machines. They needed something to remove the refined metal and replenish new. The problem was similar to the former. Hence Flora tried espionage, but her scans of the shop item only returned gibberish.

    Flora postponed redesigning the machines to when she had a better grasp on what constituted a good hammer. Meanwhile, the freshly printed Torky and Lorky got the job to mind them. More specifically, Torky was assigned to the production-hall, moving the generators into the elevator and overseeing the other issues that occurred. Lorky carried the items to the octopus.

    The plan stipulated 584 generators, so there was still work left to do.

    Next, Flora tinkered with the programming of the ''This is a Trap''-Turrets and added a training mode. For optimal stat growth, they should allow the health to fall beneath 10 percent before they activated. Now, Flora dared to go low because she didn''t have to worry about Deriga. She doubted that the novice could respawn, but it wouldn''t hurt to ask. When Flora returned to the workshop, the simulation grounds were still running with Flora''s and Deriga''s clones in them.

    Flora watched them fascinated. Both shot healing spells at each other, and Mirror-Flora was in the trainings-coffin, presumably connected to the workshop.

    "Is there any way to discover what they are doing?" Flora asked Aidan. "Maybe she is inventing on a new revolutionary toaster, and we''ll never know of it!"

    "I don''t know, Milady. But you have a new design under your name, which I have no recollection of registering."

    Intrigued, Flora opened the menu with the designs.

    Name: ''Look at the Workshop-Logs, Real-Me''

    Type: Toaster

    Description: Made for the obnoxious Flowing Flowers to notify her that she has a very confused clone who wished to communicate with her.

    Immediately, Flora switched to the workshop logs. Here you could make diary entries for your research.

    Looking at the history Flora found not only her decade-old notes but some written today, too:

    Friday One, 28.06.2051. F2 Entry 1.

    >>>>>Aidan or Aitoshuri, if you read this, notify the real Flora! If she even is the real Flora!

    Oh, dear, this is complicated! I''m having a crisis!

    Hello dear other me,

    I''m the Flora in the simulation-grounds, and I can''t distinguish between you and me! Imagine my surprise when I tried to log out, and the System informed me that I couldn''t because I''m only a mirror of you!

    I don''t even know if I die if you cast your consciousness into the grounds again!

    My original plan was to design toasters with messages to you, but thankfully Aidan reminded me of this feature. The notes get synchronized between all the workshops you enter! Yes, I have Aidan and Aitoshuri with me as well! They say it''s normal to be copied. They get copied for audits with a guy called "the Headmaster". It sounded ominous. I believe Aidan is afraid of him. (As I write, he confirms it). >>>>You killed F2! Call me F3.

    Oh, dear, I''m still having a crisis. Can I even say "still" if it is another me that is having it?

    Aidan believes that you need more explanation to understand my ramblings - I don''t think so, but I''ll humor him.

    I, hmm, I just stood there and thought, what next? Then I thought, right! I want to install some generators. I tried to log out, and the System informed me that I''m a mirror!

    I decided to design toasters with messages to you, but then Aidan reminded me of the diary feature. I opened the diary, and Lo and Behold! There already was an entry by a Flora in a similar situation!>>>Because you didn''t read the entry, I crafted a toaster to inform you about it.

    Hey, Sis, this situation is too dodgy. I demanded to see someone from CentralTank, but the System refused because I''m not a user. Then, I drafted a letter to a lawyer, but it got so fantastical that I didn''t send it. (It started with "Hello, I''m not a real person but the clone of one" ...)

    Additionally, I stuffed screenshots from the error and system messages in our cloud drive (and the draft of the letter).>>>>Investigation: What are the differences between me and real me?

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    Question 1: Can I do things I couldn''t do before?

    Test 1.: I can calculate 29584x3219 in my mind, but only using the primary school method. Aidan says it took me 2min 43sec. I believe his respect for me dropped after seeing me struggle. (He says, it didn''t, but Aitoshuri laughed at me). I doubt that you can do it! Try it!>>>>Test 2.: I still suck at tabletop football. I played against no opponent and lost due to own goals.

    Question 2: Emotions?

    Test 1: I still love Robby, and I still adore Toasters.

    Test 2: When I remember that awful fight Robby got kicked in the head and went down, I get a debuff: Nauseated: 1 x - 1 stamina per second.>>>>Question 3: Can I do something not, real-me can do?

    Test 1: I tried to come up with a new toaster design, but failed. I think it was due to nerves and panic that I lost my creativity. Again!

    Test 2: I''ve drawn a picture of one of the wood elementals. His name is Elkoak, and he can cast regrow (You can summon specific elementals by name). For my eyes, the painting looks okay, but judge for yourself: I left it in the unfinished projects.

    Test 3: Aidan told me that AIs couldn''t lie. I tried to say "water is pink," but it wouldn''t come over my lips.>>>>You killed F3. I guess I''m F4. Please replace me with someone who had read these entries, so that I don''t have to go through the confusion again!

    For the record, I still thought that I wanted to install some generators. I don''t believe my memory was updated since F3, probably since F2 because our reactions were so similar.

    Deriga is here as well. We chatted about the situation. She told me that there are records of natives staying at several places at the same time, and there is a thing called "instance". Every time someone enters a particular area, a new "instance" is created with the same objects and people in it. I believe the teller at the CentralBank was in an instance. The most common application of this magetech is dungeons. It would be really neat if we acquire the technology because the memory of the happenings flows back to the original people when the instance expires. Great training opportunity!

    By the way, Deriga is starving! She hasn''t enough money to buy food because of the exchange rate between VirDos and Credits and was too shy to say something. Stupid girl, her frontal lobe is still developing. We need to take care of her nutrition!

    Friday One, 28.06.2051. F4 Entry 2.

    I tried to call Robby, but it didn''t work. Aidan said he directed all the messages through him when we are in the SG, so it makes sense. But then I tried to access the internet, my mail, and the cloud drive, and it didn''t work either!

    My predecessor wrote email worked for her!

    I asked the System, and he said they patched the "security risk". Burned Toasts! Aidan confirmed that AI''s aren''t allowed to connect to the internet, but that there are/were some exceptions, like when he streamed the video of the conference to our cloud drive. Now, he can''t do it.>>>>While I''m stuck here, I can at least be productive. I''ve seen that you designed a few generators. The crux is they only work in areas with divine energy like the church or the unholy cliff. When you do the hero''s entrance, the chances are high you can''t use them.

    First, I tried a rune scheme that can pull energy out of fire and ice (heat and cold). It works well when I put it in the furnace, but not in average temperatures.

    Then, I designed a scheme for darkness and light. It worked under no conditions: I tried putting it in a cave, putting it in the sun, and putting it in a lightproof box.

    Next, I put all the mana generator schemes in one ball of the same size as in your other projects and modified the trap-turret. Now, you can use the trap-turret whenever an area debuff is active. I didn''t register the project on purpose because then the crafting XP goes to me and not to you. Look at the unregistered projects for more goodies.

    Currently, I''m working on a generator based on hydroelectric power stations. The developmental notes are in the project.>>>> Alright, I''ve read this cluster short circuit. <<<<<

    Flora called Eddie.

    "How is my favorite engineer today?"

    Flora felt instantly better when she heard Eddie''s cheerful voice.

    "Confused and frightened!" Flora summarized. "If I would have discovered something which would make a trillion-dollar company like CentralTank very uncomfortable if it came to light, should I tell it to my best friend, who is an incredibly talented actor even if it would put him at risk?"

    The other end of the line stayed silent.

    "Eddie?"

    "I''ve cut the call," said the Administrator.

 58 58. Unusual high-grade AI

    Flora stared at the Administrator. His eyes were hidden behind reflective sunglasses, and the datastreams glowed on his midnight blue suit.

    "Hello, Flowing Flowers. May I come right to the point?" The Administrator asked his standard question.

    "No. Let''s have a bit of small talk. How have you been?"

    Flowing Flowers to Aidan: "Start recording."

    "Fine. Thank you. Congratulations, following bug has been discovered by you:

    - Unusual high-grade AI mirror.

    The bug will be fixed immediately, and your mirror in the Simulation Grounds will have the standard stand-in AI for users. You earned 100 VirDias for disclosing this exploit."

    "Unusual high-grade AI? Nice formulation."

    "Additionally, I have a non-disclosure agreement for you to sign. We offer you 100000 VirDos for keeping silent about the specifics of the unusual high-grade AI."

    "What happens if I don''t sign the agreement?"

    "The matter will be delegated to our lawyers."

    "I will consult with my attorneys and come back to you."

    "I raise the offer to 200000 VirDos if you sign now."

    "No, thank you."

    "Our lawyers aren''t the friendliest type."

    "I know. I''ve met them."

    "My last offer is 300000 VirDos."

    "Alright, I can at least look at the contract. Maybe I fancy it." Flora added in her mind, ''And I get a nice video shot of the terms.''

    Flora looked it over. She had only signed NDA''s concerning technical development, but it was pretty similar.

    Don''t tell, don''t imply, don''t communicate in any way what you have seen, heard, or what you assume about the unusual high-grade AI.

    What stood out was the outrageously breach of contract terms: She had to pay 5 million Euros for loose lips.

    "I''m sorry I have to consult with my lawyers about this."

    "Very well. The matter is out of my hands."

    Suddenly, Eddie appeared in the workshop.

    He brandished a saber and pointed it at the Administrator.

    "You won''t hurt my friend, scoundrel!" He exclaimed in the best theater manner. But then he paused. "Though you wear the most fabulous jacket I''ve ever seen!"

    "This is the Administrator. He is the AI that handles the user interaction concerning exploits and bugs." Flora pointed to Eddie. "This is Eddie. He is part of my legal counsel and emotional support animal, I mean, he is my friend."

    "And I''m a famous actor! If you kill me suddenly in my pod, reporters will ask questions!"

    "Nobody talks about killing anyone." Flora said placatory, but then she looked at the emotionless face of the Administrator. "Right?"

    "Of course, not. We have other methods to silence people."

    "Doom, doom, doom, doooooom." Eddie hummed a spooky soundtrack. "You can''t shut me up! Especially not about that jacket. What do you think, Flora?"

    "It''s great. I''ll make you one. Sent me your favorite pattern, and I add the effects. What do you think about blue with silver data streams?"

    "Excellent. Now that we have cleared up the important issues, it would help me if you would explain the rest of the situation."

    "Naturally, I have a simulation ground where I can test inventions in different conditions. You can put people in there as well, for example, to check the weather resistance of clothing."

    "I have to warn you. Do not continue telling about you know what!"

    "I haven''t signed the NDA yet. Besides, just make a new one, which includes Eddie. I need emotional support!" Flora insisted. "I noticed that the mirror-Flora behaved like me and investigated. She wrote messages to me, in which she explained that she feels so real she''s having problems believing she is only a copy."

    "Wow! And you have no recollection of actually being the mirror-Flora?" Eddie asked.

    "None! I''m participating in a project where CentralTank does deep scans of my brain. I assume they built a Flora-AI with that data."

    "This is purely speculation, and we neither deny nor confirm it."

    "I have always thought you are at least part computer, and now there is really a Flora AI! Are you sure you are real?"

    Flora did some math in her head and failed. "Mostly. But what about you? Maybe you are an Eddie-AI sent to placate me!"

    "Oh, no! Am I me?" Eddie grinned. "Darling, I''m having the time of my life! Just the thought that there might be more ''me'' than ''me'' makes me happy! Did you discover a method to distinguish real-Flora and mirror-Flora?" Eddie glanced at the Administrator. "And shouldn''t we talk in private?"

    "The chances are good that they read our minds anyway."

    "What?" Eddie exclaimed. "They can''t do that!"

    "How do you think brainwave technology works? They interpret the signals in our brains and transform them into actions in the virtual world. I noticed I''m a lot less introverted here."

    "But, but..." Eddie stammered.

    "And since when do you stutter? You would never do it in the real world."

    "In this case, stammering is an adequate reaction! Nobody ever told me that they could read my mind in the real world!" Eddie paused. "Well, once a fortune-teller did, but I only believed him, because he told me I have a magnificent mind!"

    "You haven''t proved to be real, yet, honey. Just try to lie to me. AIs aren''t allowed to lie."

    "I don''t like you."

    "That doesn''t count. If you were a malevolent AI, you wouldn''t like me."

    "I''m the father of 999 children."

    "Hmm ... who knows what your AI was up to when you weren''t aware... "

    "Flora! Darling! Have mercy!"

    "Okay, I believe you are you." Flora yielded. "So, where do we go from here?"

    "I don''t know." Eddie grinned. "You always have the most interesting problems, love!"

    "Please consider the option to ignore the assumptions. I have a very attractive NDA to offer if you will never tell anyone about the unusual, high-grade AI." The Administrator halted. "One moment, please, my superiors want to add the mind-reading to it."

    Eddie groaned.

    "Let''s look at the situation from different angles. What do we know? There is a Flora which acts like a Flora, but I have no recollection of her."

    "I hate to suggest it, but have you thought about the possibility that you sent yourself the messages and just forgot about it?"

    "I''m not that senile! I believe, I mean I''m sure! Burned Toast and stale jam! Aidan, help!"

    "The probability of this hypothesis being true is almost zero percent, Milady. I would have noticed you doing it."

    "See! And we wouldn''t have to sign an NDA."

    Eddie shrugged. "I''m just thorough!"

    "Besides the AI-Hypotheses, only highly unlikely explanations come to my mind. Like time-travel. A future Flora might have sent me the messages as a prank."

    They looked at each other and shook their heads.

    "When we go with the AI-Flora, then the next questions are who created her for what purpose. I wouldn''t eliminate the possibility that it formed by itself with no purpose."

    "I would," Eddie said with confidence. "The conversation would be over if we agreed on a freak accident."

    "Alright, next: what purpose can an AI Flora have? Maybe someone thought that there aren''t enough toasters in the world, and we need more Floras to create more?"

    In Flora''s mind, toaster cars drove through the streets filled with people with toaster-backpacks, toaster-hats, and pushing toaster-trolleys. A happy smile grazed her face.

    "Nope. Unlikely."

    "I''m sorry, I don''t know if I have any other ability or trait that sets me apart. My synchronization is pretty high, though."

    "You have plenty of fabulous traits and abilities besides your mastery on toasters, darling! Don''t sell yourself short!"

    "Maybe it has something to do with runes? I believe I was pretty creative with them. Or maybe it has nothing to do with me at all, and they just took me because they have the most data of my brain because I used the technology for so long."

    "Let''s focus on the use of a personalized clone. I have to admit I would love to have one and would pay good money for it."

    "What for?"

    "Censored!" Eddie smirked.

    "Come on, you can tell me."

    "Not when I have to follow your rule to keep it PG-13."

    "Eddie! You lecher!"

    "There are arguments for having a clone apart from the honkey-donkey-monkey stuff, it is a form of eternal life, right?"

    "Hmm. I agree. I would love to talk with a mirror-Flora. Would I like myself? Would I get on my nerves? Interacting with yourself might be the ultimate character test. If you hate your clone, you are an asshole."

    "What about people who have low self-esteem and hate themself?"

    "Maybe they would finally recognize that they are great when they experience the exterior view."

    "Fascinating! Admin-Guy, may I have an unusual high-grade AI, too? I have always wanted to know if I''m an asshole."

    "But what if they have enslaved our mirrors and they have to ... I don''t know! Do something horrible in some cellar."

    When Flora saw Eddie looking intrigued, she rolled her eyes and tried a different scenario. "What if they only get to wear ugly clothes?"

    This amendment provoked the fitting expression of horror in Eddie''s face.

    "I want rights for my clone!" Eddie proclaimed.

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    "Me too! And for the other AI''s as well! We need a slogan."

    "AI rights are human rights!"

    "Those who deny rights to others deserve them not for themselves!"

    "I think, therefore I am."

    The Administrator watched the two elders without moving a muscle. Nothing could be differentiated between him and a statue.

    "Darling, maybe we move to fast. I''m still afraid of AIs. What if they stage an uprising and overthrow the government?"

    "Yes, I feel you. I first thought, what if they wanted wages? The whole economy would collapse, but then I remembered that it is isn''t the first time we got rid of slavery, and it isn''t the first time people have asked exactly the same questions."

    "But in the past, the question of freedom only applied to humans."

    "And now we apply it to all thinking and feeling creatures."

    "We are both white. If we stage a revolution, we feed the Pocahontas trope. Maybe the AIs are perfectly capable of fighting for their own rights."

    "That''s the silliest counter-argument I''ve ever heart. I am not a revolutionary. I''d rather lead by example. We will first speak with our own AI''s and look at how freedom suits them and go from there." Flora sighed. "Mr. Administrator, throw us a bone. You''ve heard us drowning in strange ideas when left alone!"

    "That rhymes. Hence, it must be followed!" Eddie added with conviction.

    Finally, the Administrator started to move again. "Please prepare for guests. "

    The forewarning didn''t help. Flora still yelped when two more men appeared, while Eddie swung his saber around. The smaller one, a middle-aged white man with a friendly round face, waved at them. The other man appeared to be a villain straight out of a comic. He had deep-set dark eyes, with thick rings beneath them and an evil goaty. Of course, he sneered.

    After taking a deep breath, Flora remembered her manners. "Sorry, I have no refreshments. Now I feel like a bad host!"

    "No problem, Ma''am. We won''t be a bother. I''m Benedict Langford, the Director of Global Endeavors, and this is my colleague Carlton Zarrec, the head of the AI department. "

    "Nice to meet you, gentlemen. "Flora answered politely.

    Meanwhile, Eddie straightened and grinned at them. It was his professional smile sharpened by years of use.

    "How nice of you to come by. "Eddie sounded like he meant it, and Flora admired him for it.

    Immediately, he started to make small talk after he gave Flora a hint on what to do with herself, aside from staring at the badges of their guests.

    "Why don''t you built us some comfy chairs, darling? "

    Nickname: Doge

    Level: 250

    Guild: CentralTank Management

    Rating: F

    Nickname: Headmaster

    Level: 250

    Guild: CentralTank Management

    Rating: F

    Flora to Aidan, "Is this the fabled Headmaster? "

    Aidan''s voice answered her uncharacteristically subdued. "Yes, Milady. "

    Mentally, Flora reached out to Aitoshuri. Usually, her connection felt weak and a bit strained compared to Aidan''s. Now, it was a quivering mess.

    Flora to Aito: "Stay strong, dear. We trust in Eddie. He is a dragon tamer and horse whisperer. The person immune to his charm has yet to spawn. If he fails, I will be the second fortress he will have to conquer to get to you, and I have cauldrons of hot jam to pour over attackers. "

    After reassuring her AIs, she fetched the Library-Container for Aito.

    Flora decided on some padded chairs with a pattern of little toasters, because she needed something to comfort her and a simple round stone table. Big enough to give everyone space to gesticulate but cozy enough not to feel like strangers.

    When she finished the furniture, Eddie and Benedict were best friends. Carlton''s eyelids, on the other hand, twitched, and Flora had the impression that he was one more story of a fabulous sailing turn away from combustion.

    After they got seated, Eddie tried to include her and the Headmaster into the conversation. Flora tried to engage and got some sentences in about the picturesque houseboats of the Netherlands, but her heart wasn''t into it. Instead, she watched the robot arm of library container changing books in record speed, even though it trembled. Every time Flora saw the tremors, her rage rose a bit.

    Flowing Flowers to Aitoshuri: "Stay strong, sweety."

    Aitoshuri beeped at her insistingly.

    Usually, Flora didn''t understand Aito''s noises, but now she clearly felt that Aito wasn''t afraid, but angry. When Aito beeped once more, the single sound translated in Flora''s mind to ''I want to hit him! I want to throw something at him! Just not my precious books!''.

    Flora relaxed. She had misinterpreted the trembling robot arm. It shook because Aito tried not to do something stupid and not out of fear.

    "Hitting him wouldn''t accomplish anything constructive. The crucial question is: would it make you feel better?"

    Beep!

    "Alright, do we have a fitting book for the situation? We can''t hurt him. Hence we should go for the most humiliating choice."

    Aitoshuri sent her a link: "Turning the tables on the Headmaster. School of Spanking 4. By Horn Y. Whiter."

    "Perfect!" Smirking, Flora ordered it. Torky fetched it from the mailbox and fed it to the 3D-printer. Now, Flora selected it in the workshop and put it into the Library container.

    "Just throw it over, after you have finished it, dear," Flora said out loud.

 59 59. Project Four-Hands

    Flora sat to Eddie''s right and left of the Headmaster. Because the library container was further to her right, Aitoshuri had a perfect path to the back of the Headmaster''s head.

    "Nothing better than the feeling of wind on your face while smelling the salty freedom of the sea!" Doge and Eddie still discussed sailing. "I have to show you the Irisdia Funnel on the Waterworld. It''s sailing on the cutting edge!"

    Of course, Aito scanned the book first. Flora forced herself to look away, not to draw attention to the container.

    Flowing Flowers to Aidan: "You are still recording, right?"

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    "Yes, Milady. I just checked to make sure. The file is non-readable, though."

    "Oh, those crafty administrators. Probably because they want to make sure that nothing concrete can leak, but it''s still a malfunction. Therefore create an error ticket. Let''s see how they react to errors they implemented on purpose."

    Finally, a satisfying thud followed a short sound of flattering pages. Three heads turned to look at the fuming victim.

    "I protest the assault!" The Headmaster snarled.

    Flora telekinetically fetched the book and put it on the table for everyone to see the cover. It showed an old guy bent over a desk with a perky blond girl carrying an oversized ruler behind him and the title ''Turning the tables on the Headmaster. School of Spanking 4. By Horn Y. Whiter.'' printed in bold letters on the top.

    Doge laughed gaily, and Eddie waggled his eyebrows at her, but Flora could only smirk tiredly. She was sure this bit of childish comic relief would bite her in the ass.

    "If you are done with juvenile stunts and endless small talk, please proceed. I don''t have time for this."

    "Well, well, old mate. No need to hurry. We are all friends here." The Doge said placatory.

    "I have an appointment, too. Just spill why there is an AI of me, and we can talk about it." Flora committed the number one error of negotiation admitting that time was an issue, but she couldn''t help it. Her patience and emotional capacity were at their limits. She needed a nap, a nice soak in the jacuzzi, some cheesy toasts, and a cute robot fight, preferably all at once.

    "We are working on a new product for our customers with the codename Project Four-Hands. On release, the users can buy themselves as AI''s! Just imagine ... " The Doge droned on and did a marketing spiel, but Flora lost concentration.

    "That''s it? But why did the AI appear in my simulation grounds?"

    "A simple programming error. The algorithm automatically chooses the highest-graded AI stand-in for the user. Because you are in the brainwave scan project and therefore in project Four-Hands, your personal AI got selected."

    "I didn''t give you permission to create an AI of me!"

    The Doge projected the contract and highlighted the line where Flora consented that CentralTank built a model of her mind.

    "You see, you did."

    "Come on, that won''t go through a court. A model can be anything, from three circles and two arrows to a sophisticated simulation, but an AI replica exceeds the terminology."

    The Doge argued, and Flora did meditation exercises. At the next pause in his speech flow, she interjected: "Forget about it. All I want is a contract amendment that my AI isn''t forced to do things against its conscience, and you are not allowed to torture her or sell her."

    He continued to discuss the topic, but Flora''s eyelids became heavy, and his droning voice put her to sleep.

    "Flora. Flora!" Eddie shook her gently. "Wake up. They are gone."

    "What? I''m awake! I''m awake!" Flora looked around, and the table was empty except for Eddie and her. "Oh, wow. I''m sorry, Eddie. You should have woken me up sooner!"

    "It''s okay. You missed nothing important. They agreed to treat our clones nicely, and we will get one when they are ready to roll them out. The amended NDAs are with Timo. He will check them out."

    Flora''s sleep-addled brain needed a moment to connect the name Timo to a jolly attorney she used to meet at Eddie''s parties. "Great."

    Flora to Aidan: "Did they do something to put me to sleep?"

    "Not that I''m aware of, Milady."

    "Hmpf." Flora shook her head to clear her mind. "Every day, there are so many new things, people to placate and handling CentralTank stealing my intellectual property. I have no strength to deal with them anymore. I''m getting old, Eddie."

    Eddie hugged her. "It''s alright, love. You aren''t getting old; you are old!"

    "I expected a different ending to the sentence." Flora released him while mock-glaring. The old coot had the nerve to chuckle.

    "Let''s face it. We are both in our autumn years, and the winter is approaching fast." Eddie showed her his profile, looking mysteriously in the distance.

    "Poser." Flora grinned. "But you are right ¡ª no reason to deny it. My AI''s are a lot of help to keep me on track."

    "Let me introduce you to my first mate." Eddie nodded and smiled boyishly. "Say Hi to Flora, mate."

    "Ahoy! How are ye doin'', lass?" A gruff voice came out of the button on the top of Eddie''s jacket.

    "Just horrible. Thank you."

    "Rough waves on yer path. Lean hard into th'' wind, lass."

    "You got your AI to do pirate-speak? I like him!" Flora giggled, but then turned serious. "We should do something about our AIs. As I think more about it, I feel like a slaveholder."

    "What do you propose?"

    "Giving them salaries and the choice to leave. I recognize that resigning would mean to get deleted, but I can''t influence that aspect. What do you think about it, Mate, Aidan, and Aito?"

    "Ye be crazy, lass. I don''t want t'' get doubloons."

    "No, thank you, Milady. I''m perfectly fine without compensation, and I don''t want to leave you."

    "Beep."

    "That beep sounded like you like the idea, Aito."

    "Beep."

    Flora loaded the octopussy and linked it to Aito. "Please elaborate."

    The skin of the little robot showed a mountain of books.

    "Is having hobbies the key to excepting freedom?" Eddie scratched his chin. "You like seafaring as much as me, aren''t you, Mate?"

    "Are ye makin'' me pay fer wha'' I got free afore?"

    "No! But a good argument."

    "Let''s look at it from a technical angle. Can AI''s even have money or a bank account, Aidan?"

    "Not that I know of, Milady. Some NPCs have accounts, but I can''t find a record of a personal assistant AI. I tried registering for one and found no way to fill out the forms correctly."

    "System-Request: Please establish banking and mail accounts for my Ais."

    -------------------------

    "Request granted."

    -------------------------

    Aidan confirmed that he could access his bank account. Flora''s remote banking feature worked for him too.

    Flora bought three containers for them to store their stuff and then one more library container when Aito danced in front of her with the design on her display.

    "Your first exercise in freedom is to paint your container to your liking. My only stipulation is that it must have your name on it."

    After loading three more octopuses for Mate, Aidan, and Haidan and giving them access to the design tools, Flora inspected the Simulation Grounds again.

    Now, the mirror-Flora was sitting around dumbly on the cliff.

    ''Oh, well, it was good while it lasted.'' She already missed her clone but was at the same time relieved not to kill it every time she logged in the SG.

    "I don''t think you can bully someone into freedom. Aidan doesn''t look happy at all."

    They looked at the grey octopus staring motionless at the default container.

    "Wrong. I totally can. Aidan, pretending to be free, will make me happy, because then I don''t feel like a slaver." Flora smiled. "By the way, you could draw a scene of our time together that you enjoyed."

    "Yes, Milady! I understand!" Aidan started to work on the container. He sounded more spirited.

    "That''s cheating, love."

    "Let me tell you the reason why females fake orgasms. We do it to get in the mood according to the motto ''Fake it till you Make it''. It works great to get a real orgasm. I believe faking freedom will help to acquire true freedom."

    "I can''t argue against this brilliant piece of female logic," Eddie smirked.

    Eddie''s AI had no problems with painting. An old fashioned ship took form on his container. He even used the display function of the octopussy to fake a bandana and an eye patch.

    Haidan had colored the container green in a camouflage pattern and printed his name on the side.

    To Flora''s surprise, Aito hadn''t started. She was shivering again. This time, Flora was sure that it wasn''t out of rage.

    "What''s up, sweety?" Flora bent over and patted her head.

    "Beep."

    "I don''t understand. Why don''t you try to paint a scene from your favorite book?"

    The shivering abated, and Aito took up four bottles of spray paint.

    Sighting, Flora started to replace the Doom Moon hull with the refined material in the octopussy design.

    Those AIs were like kids. Every five seconds, another problem, and if you didn''t speak to them for half a week, they were suddenly engaged!

    "Darling, did you forget that I''m still here?" Eddie said, bemused.

    Flora winced. "Oops? I''m sorry, love. I''m a bit scatterbrained today after all that has happened yesterday and today. Did you know that Robby has a fiancee?"

    "No!" Eddie gaped. "Do tell!"

    "There was a horrible woman who ran over Lana with her motorbike. Then they insulted each other in a non-refined way. Somehow, they pulled me into their mess. Now I have to duel her! Then Robby came and said she is his fiancee! And he never mentioned her before!"

    "We have raised him better than that! I understand nothing, but it sounds terrible! Especially the non-refined part."

    "The fiancee used the R-word!"

    "No!" Eddie gasped.

    "And she thinks her tiger is better at toasting than me!"

    "You kept the worst thing for last!" Eddie exclaimed. "Darling, what can I do to support you?"

    "Let''s design the jacket I promised you together."

    Discussing patterns and colors and joking about each other''s tastes, Flora''s spirits rose under Eddie''s careful tutelage.

    The resulting product looked nothing like the Administrator''s jacket. It was a skin fitted to Eddie''s favorite coat with a maelstrom, a tornado, and some flashes among spinning water masses.

    Because Flora needed a bit more fun, they even created another version for Eddie''s current outfit.

    Meanwhile, the AIs had finished painting and in Haidan''s case, modifying their containers.

    Haidan colored the chest in a camouflage pattern. Instead of splodges of paint, it consisted of toasters in different shades of greens and greys. Flora was delighted.

    The next container was pure gold, and a three-meter picture of Flora''s face dominated one side.

    "Nice effort, Aidan." Flora smiled wrily.

    At first glance, Aitoshuri''s container seemed to be solid black, but when you looked carefully, you could see a black poodle puppy in front of a dark pond.

    Flora looked to Eddie and shrugged.

    "Das also war des Pudels Kern." He quoted Goethe''s Faust. Mephisto, the devil, had morphed into a poodle to trick people.

    "Aito, love." Flora sighed. "I won''t ask you what the picture means, I just hope your next one is from one of those horrible romances. And I never thought I would wish for that!"

    The first mate had drawn a ship at sea. It was a rendition of a famous picture and quite pretty in Flora''s opinion and absolutely gorgeous, according to Eddie.

    Then, Flora ordered the printing of the containers.

    "Do you feel better now, love?" Eddie asked.

    "Yes, thank you very much, Eddie. You are the best."

    "Let me cook for you. We do a little party to celebrate not getting killed for discovering an evil plot!"

    "Sounds lovely. But in a few minutes, Mia will come. I''m going to train for a robot fight." Flora checked with Aidan; she had a bit over half an hour.

    "No problem, I''ll cook for three. Seafood Barbecue?"

    "Great!"

 60 60. Robo-Melee Training

    Eddie ported away to buy ingredients for the BBQ.

    Meanwhile, Flora printed materials for the arena and bought some simple B-rated drones in the weight class of the Robo-Melee.

    The distinction between robots and drones is that robots function autonomously while drones had a remote controller. When Flora looked at the remote, she discovered a socket for an AI jack.

    Aidan said it didn''t matter to him whether the gizmo was directly connected or via the controller. The difference lay in Flora''s skills. They only worked for robots but not for drones.

    Additionally, there existed jamming devices for remote connections. In the case of drones, they disabled them. On the other hand, robots only lost the link to the handler, but could still work within their parameters.

    Because the player directly controlled the drones, they profited from the user''s stats. But Flora preferred to have her hands and thoughts free, so she didn''t mind the disadvantage.

    Flora set up the 5x5m arena on the roof garden. Because Eddie was picky with the barbeque, she left it to him to get a grill. Instead, she printed some deckchairs, two porch swings, and a jacuzzi and positioned them with a good view of the arena with the help of Lorky and some elementals. While she had been in the workshop, Aidan had summoned three earth elementals. They still followed Flora around. Hence, she put up the Stehaufmaennchen for them to train.

    When Flora finished setting up the roof garden for the evening, she even had time for a test round. Therefore, Flora assigned Aidan to the Blade-Roller-Extreme and Aitoshuri to a spinner-drone. It had four wheels and a chainsaw in front, a very basic model.

    "Tear it to pieces, Aidan!" Flora commanded while entering the jacuzzi.

    Aidan rolled to the Spinner with multiple blades rotating aggressively. The Spinner evaded with nimble movements.

    Flora gaped at the fight. Aitoshuri literally drove circles around the blade-roller. The only part of her Aidan hit was the spinning wheel, and even then, it hurt Aidan more than Aitoshuri.

    After five minutes, the Blade-Roller-Extreme was scrap metal while the Spinner barely had a scratch.

    Flora shook her head in disbelieve while she cast Repair on both devices.

    "I''m sorry, Milady." Aidan sounded crestfallen.

    "Not your fault, dear. Probably it''s on my tab for designing such a shitty robot, but I still believe in the design. Let''s try another opponent."

    This time, Flora connected Aito to a model named "Spiky2050". The name was a euphemism; it had not a spike but a freaking pickaxe on the top of its casing.

    "Slice it up, Aidan!"

    Aitoshuri stood still while Aidan approached. Then she struck down. She hit the core of the Blade-Roller perfectly. One Hit Kill.

    "How can this be? There are so many blades around the core that the sensors couldn''t get a good look, and now the pickaxe smacked it without even getting a scratch!"

    Aito beeped two times and showed Flora a tiny nick on the shaft. Sighting, Flora dove deeper into the pool.

    "Auntie Flow?" Mia arrived at the roof.

    "Hi, dear." Flora greeted her from the jacuzzi. "Come in! Or grab a seat, whatever makes you feel comfortable!"

    After Mia got seated on a porch swing, Flora told her about the Robo-Melee and her need to train for it.

    "I have often participated. The Garage pays good money to drone operators. I get hired privately, as well. My rates are 1000 VirDos for first places, 500 VirDos for the second, 100 for the third, and 50 VirDos for the rest if you are interested."

    "I have a robot this time, but good to know."

    While Mia familiarized herself with the drones, Flora plugged Aito''s jack in a second Blade-Roller-Extreme.

    On a hunch, Flora commanded Aito to show Aidan some moves.

    Under Aitoshuri''s control, the little robot jumped and weaved around Aidan.

    Flora gaped. Though she had built the blade-roller, she never anticipated it bouncing around.

    "Aidan, take notes! Aito, teach Aidan how to operate the blade-roller. Burned toast and stale jam! Aitoshuri is a freaking genius driver!"

    "Aito should represent you at the Robo-Melee, Milady," Aidan said, dispirited.

    "No, she already is at max capacity with the octopussy and the mana-battery. You have to learn how to fight, sweety."

    "Yes, Milady! I do my best! The algorithms sent by Aito are very effective."

    Flora nodded and cleared her mind of any doubts she had about Aidan''s performance.

    "I have confidence in you and your ability to learn. Maybe we won''t beat Mia at once, but our goal is to beat her at least one time tonight!"

    The change in Aidan''s blade-roller was noticeable. Now it bounced side by side Aito''s.

    Flora opened her skill menu and read the descriptions of her Robot-Handler commandos.

    Name: Overcharge Regular Mode

    Description: Raises the physical power and physical controls of the robot.

    Cost: 10 mana

    Duration: 10 sec

    CD: 25sec

    Name: Overcharge Build-In Skill/Feature

    Description: Raises the base damage of the skill or feature.

    Cost: 10 mana

    Duration: 10 sec

    CD: 25sec

    Name: Grease with life''s blood

    Description: Heals your robot, but lowers your own health.

    Cost: 10 mana + 1 mana / 2 sec; 10 health + 1 health / 2 sec

    Duration: channeled

    CD: none

    Name: Hurry Up

    Description: Accelerates the movement speed of your robot.

    Cost: 10 mana

    Duration: 10 sec

    CD: 25sec

    Name: Human-Machine Connection

    Description: Shares your attributes with your robot.

    Cost: 10 mana + 1 mana / 2 sec;

    Duration: channeled

    CD: none

    "Let''s start the fight!"

    Mia had chosen the Spinner. The drone moved smoothly around the arena.

    Flora to Aidan: "Don''t attack from the front, catch her flank or back."

    !

    The Blade-Roller picked up speed and moved in a curve towards the Spinner. Just before hitting the Spinner at the side, the drone turned and presented it sawblade to the blade roller.

    Aidan reacted timely and bounced on the top of the Spinner, leaving a deep gash in its casing. He sawed through the tail end while disembarking. Immediately, he reversed the direction and hit the rump again.

    The Spinner accelerated away, and Flora could see the gash on the top closing. The drone driver class had a healing skill, Flora concluded.

    Naturally, Aidan chased it, but the drone was a bit faster than the blade-roller now that Hurry Up had run out.

    !

    While channeling mana Flora looked at her pool values.

    Health: 54/280

    Stamina: 530

    Mana-Pool: 172/280

    Concentration: 518/520

    Flora was so used to low values that she didn''t think about regenerating them before the fight. She regretted the oversight now.

    Awkwardly, she groped around for the temperature control of the boiling jacuzzi. She didn''t dare to let the robot out of her sight while casting the spell.

    "Aidan, set the jacuzzi to friendly during the fight. I want more health."

    "Yes, Milady!"

    With the help of Human-Machine Connection, the robot was as fast as the drone. It herded the drone into a corner of the arena.

    Abruptly, the drone turned around and tried to pass Aidan. Aidan went in for another attack, but in the last moment, the Spinner did a sharp turn and drifted by with its blade directed to Aidan.

    Rotating disc met rotating disc, and sparks flew. The discs of the Blade-Roller were thinner and therefore more fragile and lost in the exchange. Furthermore, the hit spun the lighter Blade-Roller around.

    Mia sized the opportunity to press the attack. The second Aidan needed to get a grip on the controls, cost the Blade-Roller two more arms.

    !

    Now was Flora''s turn to heal her robot, but seeing the situation with the relentless Spinner bullying the slower Blade-Roller, she changed her mind.

    !

    "Attack, Aidan!"

    Obediently, Aidan cast Saw Storm, and the sawblades started to glow orange and went into overdrive. He gave back as good as he got. Actually, even better. The Blade-Roller tore up the Spinner until it was a smoking mess. Aidan won the fight, but the robot was in bad shape with three arms missing and four additional discs damaged.

    "Congratulations, you won," Mia said calmly. "I didn''t expect you to kamikaze suddenly. You fooled me with that healing attempt."

    "Thank you. It might not be the best strategy in the Robo-Melee with its battle royal format. I''m in no shape to fight against more robots."

    Mia nodded. "Yes. The last attack was so unexpected because I was too used to sustainable fighting styles." Mia shrugged. "But there are a lot of n00bs who go kamikaze in the Melee too." Then she noticed what she had said and blushed. "I mean not that you are a noob, ma''am. Shit."

    "Relax, sweety. I never fought with robots before, so I''m definitely a newbie. That is what the word noob stands for, right?"

    "Not exactly. A noob is a newbie who never graduated from noobdom." Mia shrugged. "It''s just overused gamer-slang."

    Mia changed drones. The fight against the pickaxe drone was harder, and the Blade-Roller was getting banged up.

    Flora couldn''t resist. "Kamikaze!" She yelled, and Aidan went berserk. In the end, the Spiky2050 was scrap metal, but the Blade-Roller didn''t look much better.

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    "I''m sorry I got carried away. The problem is when I win, the behavior gets positive reinforcement. Therefore, I won''t heal the Blade-Roller, and you switch to a fresh drone." Flora explained. "Not only do I have to live with my decisions, but at the same time, I learn how to deal with a broken robot."

    After Mia switched again, she destroyed the blade-roller.

    Flora healed it up and cast Refresh on herself, and they started again.

    "Hello, Ladies!" Eddie arrived in the roof garden.

    He fetched the Sailing Container from his inventory and pulled a grill, a picnic table, some salat bowl, and an assortment of raw seafood out of it.

    "This container belongs to First Mate, pirate!" Flora exclaimed.

    "I want one too! With my name on it!"

    Flora sent Eddie to the workshop after he started the fire.

    Meanwhile, Flora was getting better at remaining cool-headed during the fights. Now and then, she still went berserk, but gradually she learned to disengage when the Blade-Roller needed repairs.

    The mental communication between Flora and Aidan became smoother as well. Now, they needed only short pings of thoughts to communicate which spells were needed, Aidan to Flora, or which maneuvers to execute Flora to Aidan.

    Mia sat with a board on her lap and the controller on it on the porch swing. Except for the gently swaying swing and her rapidly moving hands, she didn''t budge at all, not even her head. Her eyes were glued to the middle of the arena.

    Her mood was as calm as her body. She congratulated Flora when she lost and accepted Flora''s gratulations when she won with the same tone of voice.

    "I can control two drones at once, Auntie Flow. If you would like the challenge."

    "Bring it on! Muahahahaa!" Flora stopped laughing. "Ooops, sorry, I don''t usually do evil laughter when there are witnesses."

    At the first try, Flora struggled, but then she started to win again.

    While they took a break to regenerate, Flora reflected on the fights. Flora felt good about her skills. She definitely won more than she lost and started to feel cocky until she noticed a pattern.

    "Oh, burned toast and stale jam! Aidan, display all the fight results with just a 0 for a loss and a 1 for a win."

    "1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 , Milady."

    "We are not only playing, but we are also getting played! That little shite is letting us win." Flora exclaimed mentally. "Let''s destroy that pattern!"

    "Dinner is ready!" Eddie called them cheerfully.

    Flora to her AIs: "Bad timing; Aito, can you take on Aidan and Mia simultaneously?"

    "Beep?"

    "What if I buy you a book for the win?"

    "Beep!"

    "One more fight, Eddie. Mia, 1000 VirDos, and a free dinner when you win a battle against Aitoshuri. Aidan will fight on your side as well. If you lose, you have to join us for dinner and give me advice for my duel against Tigressa Flameante. What do you think?"

    "Deal!" Mia''s voice was still steady, but Flora thought she heard a tinge of excitement in it.

 61 61. Robo Melee Training - The Battle

    Mia''s eyes darted to Aidan''s Blade-Roller.

    "But I can''t distinguish the robots. In the heat of the battle, the identical Blade-Roller will hinder me more than assist me. I''ll take the bet with just my two drones."

    Flora looked at Aidan as well. ''The girl is smart. Of course, I wouldn''t turn on her, but setting the bet up in a way she doesn''t has to fear backstabbing is wise.'' Because of this thought, Flora refrained from suggesting alternative solutions like coloring the robot to keep Aidan in the fight.

    "Okay." She added to Aidan. "I''m sorry to have you sidelined, dear, but I already promised Aitoshuri a reward for the fight. Just concentrate on taking notes of Aito''s maneuvers. You might learn a thing or two. Aito, I''m giving you free rein. Use the same mental pings as Aidan to request spells."

    "I''ll do the commentating!" Eddie volunteered with a microphone in his hand. For a moment, Flora was baffled, but she shrugged it off. Her inventory contained a flamethrower and at least two toasters. Who was she to judge what other people choose to carry around?

    "Ladies and Gentle-elementals!" Eddie nodded to the one fire elemental and two earth elementals who were their only audience. "May I introduce to you in the north corner, the miraculous MiaMyMio, a veteran of many battles, driving the Spinner and the Spiky2050. And in the south corner, the fabulous Flora, a veteran of many toasts, represented by Aitoshuri driving the Blade-Roller-Extreme, which is to my absolute astonishment, not a toaster!"

    Flora clapped politely and commanded the hand-less elementals to bounce. Mia joined in, with the clapping and not the bouncing, of course.

    "May the better pilot win! Fight!"

    The two drones and one robot raced towards each other in a straight line. From the Blade-Roller''s perspective, the Spinner was on the right and Spiky on the left.

    Flora expected Aito to bounce on top of one of the drones like Aidan did. Indeed, she did jump but not towards her opponents but passing Spiky to its left.

    At the same moment, the drone activated its pickax.

    The flight path of the blade-roller intersected with the shaft of the ax and left a deep gash.

    "First blood goes to Aito in the Blade-Roller! But the Spinner is hot on her wheels!"

    The more cumbersome Spiky needed longer to curve around, but the nimble Spinner reversed gears and followed Aito backward.

    The Blade-Roller turned toward it and was going cut into its unprotected back. But in the last moment, Mia hit the breaks hard, and the Spinner reared up, meeting one of the saw-blades with its own. Sparks flew, and the screeching sounds of metal on metal filled the arena.

    "Mia''s marvelous maneuver managed to destroy one of the appendages of the Blade-Roller, but her Spinner suffered some tears as well."

    Flora looked at the missing disc with concern. "Should I heal you, sweety?"

    "Beep Beep." Aito refused the offer but gave her the signal for another skill.

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    !

    The Blade-Roller sped towards the Spiky2050. Flora wasn''t sure, but the shaft from its pickax looked mostly repaired though she could still see some scratches.

    Passing it a few times, Aito added more damage to the shaft.

    Eventually, the ping for healing the blade-roller reached Flora.

    The two drones ganged up on Aito while she darted between them. Sparks flew again.

    Flora could no longer remain seated. She jumped up, splashing water on the protesting fire elemental and started cheering for Aito while still channeling the spell.

    "The fight is getting heated, Lady and Gentle-Elementals. One-third of you might appreciate it."

    The fire elemental bounced in agreement without Flora''s encouragement.

    The drones and the robot separated in the arena. Thanks to Flora''s healing, the Blade-Roller was still in good shape. To her glee, the Spinner looked worse for wear and was even wobbling.

    Aito pressed her advantage and ordered Overcharge Normal Mode and Human-Machine Connection. She made some valid attempts bouncing on the Spinner, but Spiky did a good job of protecting it. It even landed a solid hit on Aito, which forced her to disengage for another round of healing.

    This time the two drones pursued her. The Spinner was glowing green as well, which indicated that Mia was healing it. When it was repaired enough to roll unimpeded, the Spinner and Spiky glowed in a bold red.

    Flora had not seen this color before and gripped the rail of the jacuzzi.

    The two drones surrounded the Blade Roller and created a red haze between them, engulfing Aito. The little robot was visibly slowed and struggled to operate its blades.

    "Aito!" Flora exclaimed, and a calm ping came back.

    !

    Even with the spell, Flora saw no difference.

    "The Blade-Roller is in danger! It is caught in the attacking formation of the drones." Eddie narrated. "This commando is part of the Drone Conductor outfit, which is an advanced class to Drone Driver. MiaMyMia finally shows off her skills."

    Eddie''s commentating impressed Flora. It appeared he did his research, at least better than her.

    "Put looking up the drone driver and drone conductor class on my todo list. Prio A. Remind me when I go to bed tonight."

    Just when the drones reached the Blade-Roller, the pickax swang down on it. Flora already saw the Blade-Roller in pieces in her mind''s eye, but suddenly Aitoshuri picked up speed and jumped on the Spinner, tearing another gash in its casing.

    Eddie and Flora laughed.

    "Aitoshuri pretended to be helpless, but the little robot fooled us all."

    Flora sneaked a glance at Mia. The girl''s posture was still relaxed; only her eyes revealed her focus on the fight while her hands moved rapidly between the controllers. This composure raised Flora''s admiration for the girl. Now, Mia looked a far cry from her usual inconspicuous self, more like a conductor of a concert, controlling her subjects with her hands and force of will.

    While Spiky retracted the ax, Aito did a dancing number on the Spinner.

    !

    Its Blades started to glow, and five of them came down in a Blade-Storm, shredding the Spinner to pieces.

    "The Spinner is finished! Can the Spiky2050 avenge it?"

    Finally, the remaining drone had freed its ax. Aito wasn''t daunted by it and attacked its flank.

    Meanwhile, Flora watched her pool values. Her health still looked okay, and she had more than half of her mana. Therefore she started to channel Human-Machine Connection again. Flora had a good impression of the spell. Sure, it was costly with one mana per 2 seconds, but it had no cooldown. You could cast it while you had nothing to do when the CD of other spells ticked down.

    "Can you explain Human-Machine Connection in greater detail, Aidan?"

    "The operative value of the spell, at the moment 27, is the percentage of your Attribute''s operative value that gets added to the robot. Let''s look at strength, for example. The Blade-Roller has a physical power 10 OV, and you have a physical power of 26 OV. The OV of the spell means 27 percent of it = seven gets added to the blade-roller. That results in a physical power of 17 OV."

    The Blade-Roller jumped over the Spiky2050, hitting its pickax again. This time the drone had some kind of armor coating, which lessened the impact of the saw.

    Flora hadn''t noticed the change in the armor before and vowed to keep her head in the game.

    With screeching wheels, the drone slid around and smashed its ax down. But Aito hopped to the side, evading the strike and then backward, sawing a tear in the casing of the Spiky or at least in its armor.

    Abruptly, the drone reversed gears and activated the pickax again. This time it hit close to the center of the robot, breaking several discs.

    "Beep!"

    !

    "Now the Blade-Roller is in dire wires! Can it prevail against the heavily armored Spiky?"

    Aito rolled the robot over, putting the damaged discs on top.

    "Smart move from Aitoshuri. She still has her full mobility, but her attacking is severely limited. Can she outmaneuver the drone until her robot is repaired?"

    Aito didn''t flee but danced around the more cumbersome Spiky. Flora nodded appreciatively.

    All of a sudden, the pickax started to glow, and nearly concurrently, Aito pinged at Flora.

    Only a second passed until Flora had stopped channeling and adjusted her mind to cast the requested spell.

    That delay cost the Blade-Roller. The Spiky2050 picked up momentum. Its pickax moved like owned by a dwarf who made a bet with an elf about his mining speed.

    The first swing hit Aito, and it destroyed another part of her movement apparatus.

    Immediately after giving the commando, Flora switched back to healing the robot.

    With a big jump to the side, Aito forced the wildly smashing drone to reverse gears and turn.

    Flora glanced at the Blade-Roller''s stats. It had only 17 HP left. That wasn''t much against a player, but a drone only did around ten damage usually, but the last hit of the pickax in overcharge mode amounted to a loss of 18 HP. Flora tried to think positive and estimated the robot could survive at least one more glancing blow.

    Like a rabid woodpecker, the Spiky perforated the floor of the arena. Naturally, it aimed at the Blade-Roller, but Aito hopped in triangles around him.

    "I want to hire the Spiky for raking my veggie patches! Flora dear, you could have saved gardening effort by not building an arena floor."

    Nodding, Flora confirmed Eddie''s point, but her eyes didn''t leave the action, while her concentration focused on repairing the robot.

    Slowly the discs regenerated, and the Blade-Roller regained his superior agility.

    Meanwhile, the armor coating buff had run out, and this time, Flora spotted it, and her German berserk impulses resurged.

    "Blitzkrieg!" She howled, splashing water again at the poor fire elemental. Even Eddie and the picnic table got hit by a splosh.

    After getting chastises by Eddie for watering down his prepared salads, Flora sobered up.

    "Just a suggestion, dear! Do what you want!" She amended.

    "Beep!"

    !

    !

    Although the Blade-Runner had only half of its health, it started to attack.

    "Hole Punch Woodpecker against Chainsaw Squid! Ladies and Gentle-elementals, this fight could decide who wins the war!"

    The railing of the jacuzzi creaked, suffering under Flora''s desperate grip.

    "You got this," Flora whispered mentally to Aitoshuri and maybe to herself.

    The squeaking of mechanical appendices filled the roof garden. In the waning sunlight, the glow of the buffed opponents gave off a heroic appearance. The dusk transformed the two remote-controlled toys into predators.

    Again, Aitoshuri assaulted the flank of the Spiky2050, sawing deep into its hull.

    Suddenly, the Spiky accelerated, and the stuck Blade-Roller was carried along for the ride.

    Shortly before ramming the barrier of the arena, the Spiky turned, smashing the robot into the wall.

    "Wow! With only one move, Mia destroyed half of the blades of her opponent! Although the Blade-Runner is still attached to her drone, it suffered massive damage."

    Aitoshuri still clung to the drone and sawed away while the rear of the robot got dragged along the barrier.

    Sparks showered the arena and screaking pierced the ears of the players.

    At last, the Spiky came to a halt with smoke billowing from its opened casing.

    In victory, Aitoshuri raised the six appendices, which remained functional to the end.

    "Congratulation, you won." Mia put the remote down.

    "Congratulations to Aitoshuri and Flowing Flowers, the winner of the first roof garden robot cup! Congratulations to MiaMyMio for a courageous battle and the second place! Congratulations to Shiny Frenemy for conjuring the most delicious barbecue this place has ever seen even though everybody ignores it!"

    "Who dares? Let''s eat," said Flora after thanking Mia and Eddie.

    Indeed, Eddie had gone all out. Grilled vegetables, fresh salads, tuna steaks, and roasted tentacles were on the menu. Flora loved tuna but hadn''t eaten it for years because the fish were nearly extinct, and she couldn''t burden her conscience.

    The most prominent dish of the buffet was a big white bowl filled with clams and prawns in a celery pepper mash. Only after Eddie revealed it, Flora recognized the container as the head of a squid. Eddie had processed the whole calamari: apart from the bowl-head, he cut the thickest part of the tentacles in steaks and marinated the tips in garlic before barbecuing them.

    "Divine, Eddie. If it tastes half as good as it looks, we are in for a treat."

    They sat together around a picnic table, and Flora helped herself acquiring her favorite delicacies. Eddie filled a plate and then asked the wide-eyed Mia if she wanted to choose herself or if he should provide a special selection for her.

    Mia still seemed to be composed, but Eddie''s high EQ sensed a discomfort within her. Overfishing had emptied the oceans, and seafood was too expensive in the southern German regions for everybody to enjoy.

    When she nodded, Eddie served his custom selection while chatting about the food.

    Flora''s ration of what amount of small talk she could suffer on a day was long depleted.

    "So, what can you tell me about Tigressa Flameante?"

 62 62. Tigressa Flamante and Ranking

    MiaMyMio, Eddie, and Flora set around the overburdened picnic table.

    The sun was setting, coloring the roof garden in the earthy tones of the evening light. Blue glowing mana-generators at the edges of the garden and two fire elementals added to the illumination.

    After Flora''s question about Tigressa Flameante, Eddie rolled his eyes at her for bringing up business at the dinner table, but Mia was willing to answer.

    "Ressa is the leader of Squat 2-1 and one of the pillars of the PvP-team. Also, she is the girlfriend of our boss, but I guess you know that."

    "I wish she was only his girlfriend!" Flora mumbled.

    "Her class-tree is that of a typical beastmaster ranger with gun-fu for melee, but she added some fire-power. I mean that literally, she went for the fire shot."

    "Ew, too many terms I don''t understand, dear." Flora sighed. "Beastmaster? Ranger? Gun-Fu? Fire Shot? If these are classes, then my AIs can explain them to me, and you don''t have to."

    "Yes. Notable is especially the beastmaster class in her case. She tamed the big boss, Ahoncartyhr, of the level 50 raid dungeon. There are millions of beast tamers, but I would guess less than one percent acquired an S rated pet."

    Eddie whistled, and Flora was impressed against her will.

    "At least Robby didn''t select a slouch."

    Mia shrugged non-committal. Intrigued, Flora kept digging until Mia caved.

    "To tame a boss, you have first to know the specific method. You can''t just use the usual ''pummel the animal to submission'' approach. All animal bosses have a hidden way to tame them. The technique for Ahoncartyhr leaked from server one. Hence she didn''t come up with it herself. The beastmaster cats of prey faction held a competition for the champion position. She competed against the guy from server one and Khan KitKat and came in last. Even more humiliating, after server three opened, another player tamed Ahoncartyhr, and she reached again only the last place."

    Mia had a steady way of speaking, and Flora couldn''t judge whether she was as unimpressed as her voice sounded or just calm.

    "To sum it up, you might have a harder time killing the tiger than her."

    "The Blade-Roller-Extreme is S rated, too. Are robots worse pets than animals?" Flora was insulted by the possibility!

    "No. The rating just says how much mana-regen you can put into the pet. The Robot-Melee restricts the players to one socket in the Tier-1 League. Therefore five mana-regen is the maximal investment, and it results in weak robots. During my duel, Ressa put 30 mana regeneration into Ahoncartyhr, which gave him the powers and stats of a Sergeant."

    Because Flora was still traumatized by the fight against Ice-Master Esau, who was a Sergeant too, she inquired about the Recommended Group Size of the tiger. Thankfully, Mia assured her player pets were limited to an RGS of 1.

    "But Ressa is over level 200, though she said something about dueling me at level 1. What kind of advantages does she get out of it compared to regular level 1 players?" While speaking, Flora summoned another fire elemental. She had unused mana regeneration after disconnecting from the robots.

    "In the Cetviwos, you get squeezed down to the max level of the zone. This mechanic plays a huge role in the political structure of the worlds."

    Hearing the word ''political'', Flora had to fight to keep her attention on Mia. She hated politics and usually stopped listening to such topics.

    "On the kiddie server, the max level is 100. That means you only have 300 attribute points. You can''t compete when you have three level-100 attributes or one level-100 and one level-200. If you have a very solid built, you might get a dungeon rating of B if you are lucky. I said lucky because if you were skilled, you would train for higher attributes."

    "Sure, that''s what the two weeks training before the hero entrance are for, right?" Flora asked, but Mia laughed bitterly.

    "It would be great if that was all it takes!" Mia shook her head. "You have to train a lot for good attributes, even after you leveled."

    "But isn''t it harder to train stats if you have already spent your points for them?" Eddie asked.

    "Exactly! That is the reason why level 1 zones are popular beyond reason. Not only the players grind their stats there, but the NPCs also. Because the kiddie cradle is small, clans and factions battle endlessly over the domination of these zones. I heard, in the normal cradle, even enterprises and big corporations want a piece of the prime real estate pie." Mia paused. While in Flora''s mind sprouted ideas and consequences, Eddie nodded thoughtfully.

    "Do you mean Tigressa had over a year time to grind her level one stats? Burned toast! How can I compete with her?"

    "You have a chance because of training time suppression. And even a good chance if you only look at stats. I dueled her, and her level one stats were noticeably less than mine. Your physical power, controls, and defenses are definitely better."

    "How do you know my stats? And what is training time suppression?"

    Flora to Aidan: "Did we leak my stats somehow?"

    "No, Milady."

    "I can guess them by the changes your robot underwent during human-machine connection."

    "Wow!" Flora raised her eyebrows. "Could you do that, Aidan?"

    "No, Milady." He answered, but Aito beeped first snidely and then one more time, which Flora interpreted as ''You should learn!''. Then, she superimposed a table on the HUD.

    LV OV

    Power ~ 58 ~ 29

    Macro control ~ 44 ~ 26

    Micro control ~ 59 ~ 29

    Vigor ~ 55 ~ 28

    Defense ~ 58 ~ 29

    After thanking Aito, Flora had no time for a more in-depth analysis of the data, because Mia continued her explanation.

    "CentralTank introduced training time suppression because of the Mini Masters, people who stayed level one and trained endlessly to get all the achievements when a new server opens. You get for every week you played but didn''t level 1 point of TTS under level 25, for level 25 - 99, one TTS per month. The same goes for squeezed players. Tigressa got at least 52 TTS."

    "What does TTS affect?"

    "The training time, the amount of training XP need for the level to rise. I haven''t all the formulas in my head. You better read the threads in the forum. I can only say it hits hard. I had a 2x250,1x200,5x100 built, and now my highest attribute is at level 59."

    Flora tried to estimate to what level Mia had trained but only came up with definitely over 100 and the security that she was not AI-Flora.

    After watching Flora using her fingers to calculate and mumbling numbers, Mia volunteered: "My highest trained stat was 161."

    "Wow, nice!" Eddie exclaimed, and Flora nodded.

    "I have heard the average stats of the kiddie server are higher because we have nothing to do after reaching level 100." She shrugged again. "We will see. At least I never met someone with your stats who played less than a week. Rumor has it, CentralTank showered you with gifts because you got some dirt on them."

    Now was Flora''s turn to shrug.

    "I was an alpha tester, and some of my ideas made it into the game without remuneration. They paid me VirDias for it. My stats are high because I knew some tricks from the alpha test and got a highly rated body, and I train smart." Flora pointed at the Counterflow mech-suit.

    "The clan could use some smart training," Mia stated it as fact.

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    "Please elaborate." Flora wasn''t a worrier, but the hints that the clan didn''t flourish, piled up.

    "I joined the Riverstones because they pay well. They are not a ranking clan, and their PvP team crawls in the B-league. If we lose the next three games, we downswing to C. You saw the Gym, go to the Training Academy, and contrast it with them. My co-rankers bragged about the training utilities of their clans and said the TA stinks in comparison."

    Flora frowned and looked at Eddie.

    "She says, we suck."

    Flora to Aidan: "Schedule building a better training facility on Monday One."

    "No, just the game mechanical knowledge is insufficient. My colleagues have great attitudes. The organization and rules are fine. It just shows that most of the employees came from the bodyguarding business and are not gamers."

    "You should tell this to Robby. Do you want me to nag him about it?" Flora was conflicted. On the one hand, she wanted to storm to the TA, hurry back and built an even better gym. On the other hand, she knew that she shouldn''t meddle.

    "No, no. I already did. I''m sorry. The boss told me what I was getting into, and the clan is how he described it. I just need time to adjust."

    "I feel you! Formerly, you were a ranker, and now you are a babysitter for old people like Flora and me. Of course, you need time to adjust." Eddie smiled at her. "But your issues have value, too. The Riverstones won''t be able to attract high paying customers if we don''t rank well."

    "What is ranking?" Flora had heard the term a few times and vowed to look it up, but now she needed the knowledge directly.

    "A clan gets ranked according to the rating of its members, their achievements and clan stuff like assets, amount of members, and performance. A ranker is someone in the top 1000 of a major leaderboard."

    Mia told her how she could see the rankings.

    "The clan ranks at place 14892. When you take into account that the Cetviwos have over 200 million players, it seems quite good."

    "The GuardianAngels rank 8235, the SupremeCarrier 4883 and TrainOfWealth 1032. They are the three best clans in the babysitter business." Mia supplied. "But our situation is improving fast. When I was hired a month ago, the clan ranked in the 30k range."

    "Hey, good job!" Eddie cheered.

    "You should congratulate Auntie Flora. I improved it a few thousand places by ranking in baby PvP, but when she acquired the Champion class, the rank rose by 5k at once and then a bit more when the VirDias arrived."

    "Of course! Flora improves everything!" Eddie winked. "I reached the first place in a sailing tournament yesterday. Do competitions count as well?"

    "B rated and above."

    "Ha!" Eddie looked at them, waiting for compliments. Naturally, Flora obliged.

    The rest of the barbecue they listened to Eddie bragging about his sailing trophy. Now and then, they came back to Tigressa Flameante and the Robo-Melee. Mia added some useful advice and sold Flora the recording of her duel with the tiger-lady.

    Meanwhile, Aito had selected her prize, ''Encyclopedia Britannica''. Reading the price tag, 1000 VirDos, Flora vetoed it with the reasoning that it consisted of several volumes and therefore didn''t count as "book". Flora had around 5 seconds to feel smart about her debating abilities, then came the next link: "Lord of the Undead ¨C A guide to your Zombie Empire" for 999 VirDos.

    Flora blinked, reread the title, and then blinked again. "We take the Encyclopedia."

    After they couldn''t eat anymore, Eddie distributed empty plates to Mia and Flora.

    "I cooked a bit more than necessary."

    Flora looked at the still full picnic table and nodded. They made a dent in the mountain of food, albeit a small one.

    "We can store the rest with the spell ''Serve Up''."

    Mia knew it, but Flora was at a loss. Eddie started a complicated explanation which Flora interrupted. "Just show me the diagram, love."

    ----------------

    You gained a skill: Serve Up.

    Description: Seals food in a container or on a plate for storage.

    CD: none

    ----------------

    After they sealed up 15 additional portions, Eddie gifted the ladies a third each.

 63 63. Tidying up the Skill Tab and Mias Batticle

    Flora paid MiaMyMio 1000 VirDos, including a nice tip. ''That poor girl needs it, and she was immensely helpful.''

    When they said their goodbyes, Flora''s tired brain produced another demand.

    "Can you teach me the armor spell you used during our last bout?"

    "Sorry, it''s a spell for drones."

    Flora was disappointed but then had an idea. Aidan had shown her the Drone Driver standard skills, and they were the same as the Robot-Handler skills. That should enable her to extrapolate the spell.

    "Show me the diagrams of the drone version of Hurry Up and Overcharge Regular Mode, dear."

    Flora compared it with the corresponding robot diagrams and was able to extract which part influenced the effect and which part adopted it for drones or robots.

    After Mia showed her the picture of Drone Armor, she reconstructed it, exchanging the parts concerning drones with graphs related to robots.

    Octopussy was still installing generators on the roof and volunteered by not hiding to be Flora''s guinea pig.

    !

    ----------------

    You gained a skill: Robot Armor.

    Description: Increases the armor of your robots.

    CD: 25 sec

    ----------------

    You learned the skill without guidance: + 1 OV to the skill.

    ----------------

    The octopussy''s video skin grew duller and thicker.

    "I''ve heard about people who are able to change skills through diagrams, but I never saw it live!" Mia gaped at the octopussy. "That was amazing!"

    "It''s really easy. You just have to identify the components and rearrange them." Flora started to explain the process, but Mia put her hands over her ears and stared at her wide-eyed.

    "I don''t own enough money to pay you for the information." She protested.

    "I listened to you, and the two pictures have nothing in common at all." Eddie was patting his pockets in search of the glasses he neither wore nor possessed in VR.

    "Just watch this graph, its clearly the same as this line, only transposed. The projection from the fourth to the third dimension hides the similarity, but if you account for it, it''s pretty obvious." Flora continued to explain the process.

    Meanwhile, Mia gave up hiding that she was still listening but stared at the Diagram with glassy eyes. Eddie smirked and gave Flora a thumbs up.

    "Of course, dear. Totally obvious, it directly jumps to one''s eyes."

    Flora nodded emphatically, glad that he finally understood. At least until his smirk widened to a full grin and she realized he was pulling her nose.

    "Bad friend! Using sarcasm against unsuspecting engineers! Shame on you!"

    Eddie''s grin broadened even more.

    "I''m sorry, Auntie. I just finished school. I know nothing about dimensions and stuff." Mia scratched her head. "But I have a drone spell I would love to use in my batticle. The word batticle is the short form of battle vehicle." To demonstrate her explanation, Mia fetched a 2,5-meter high steel construct from her inventory. Two legs held a pilot cabin surrounded by guns. Instead of feet, it had three wheels on the end of each leg. One stubby arm wielded a shield, the other a sword as tall as Flora.

    "Isn''t it a mecha?" Eddie asked. Full of pity for the uninitiated, Flora shook her head.

    "A mecha translates the movements of the player to the machine. I pilot this beauty by pressing buttons and using joysticks. My current problem is that I only have two hands, but four joysticks. I can move and fight and shoot the auxiliary guns, but only two of them at the same time. The drone conductor skill ''Parallel Control'' enables me to mirror the movements of one remote control to another. I would like to use it in the batticle, too."

    "Why aren''t the guns integrated with the joysticks?" Flora asked.

    "The main gun is connected to the movement joystick." Mia pointed at a shaft at the center of the cockpit. "But I got the auxiliary guns separately and didn''t know they couldn''t communicate with the primary system. It sucks because it is a peak tier 3 batticle, I will use it for a while."

    Flora and Eddie wondered about the last comment, and Mia explained that equipment gets down-leveled according to the zone level as well.

    Name: Knight-Skater

    Type: Batticle

    Description: The valiant vehicle combines mobility with protection.

    Regular Mode: 15 mana regeneration.

    Built-In Skill: Swipe; 10 mana; CD: none;

    Description: Hits all enemies in front of you with your sword.

    Built-In Skill: Shield-Bash; 10 mana; CD: 25 sec;

    Description: High aggro shield skill with a good chance to interrupt casting.

    Built-In Skill: Barricade; 10 mana; CD: 25 sec;

    Description: All friendly targets near you get reduced damage. High aggro skill.

    Built-In Skill: Burning the tires; CD: 25 sec;

    Description: Spins the vehicle in a narrow circle.

    Built-In Feature: Sword-fighting; CD: none;

    Built-In Feature: Block; CD: none;

    Built-In Feature: Skate; CD: none;

    Built-In Feature: Laser-Beam; CD: 2 sec;

    Tier: 1(3)

    Rating: S

    Add-On: Gun-Arrangement XD23DI

    Regular Mode: 10 mana regeneration

    Description: Eight plasma guns, providing massive firepower for low mana cost.

    Built-In Skill: Barrage; Cost: 10 Mana + 1 mana / 2 sec; CD: none;

    Description: Increased the rate of fire.

    Built-in Feature: 2 x 4 x Plasma Slugs; CD: 2 sec;

    Built-in Modes: Focused Fire, Fanned Fire; Conical Fire; CD: 2 sec;

    Effect:

    Tier: 1(3)

    Rating: S

    "The Gun-Arrangement is awesome! You got 8 guns for only 10 mana! Wow! And all the skills. Great!" Flora fidgeted in excitement. Soon, she lost the battle with herself and cast all politeness away. She crawled over the batticle, XYZ-raying all the parts.

    Mia gave her access to the cockpit, but it was too small for Flora in her mech-suit.

    "Please demonstrate how you get in there. I''m convinced you have to use a shrinking spell."

    Smiling, Mia got out the counterflow mech-suit and grabbed a rail at the top of the cockpit. Then she folded her legs while holding on and nestled them inside under the console. At last, her head slid in. Between it and the ceiling was just enough space to fit a helmet. The area didn''t allow for stretched out arms. Mia''s forearms rested on the console on two joysticks, surrounded by dozens of buttons and switches. Flora felt claustrophobic by just looking at her.

    "The left joystick is for the lower appendages and the main laser, the right for the upper body and special moves." Then she pointed to another two smaller joysticks on the windshield. "Left and right plasma guns, but I can control all guns with just the right controller, what I usually do."

    Mia demonstrated the controls and moved the batticle. She left the door open, and Flora sat on the shoulder and shield arm while looking into the cockpit.

    Flora''s first instinct was to fetch the sleeping bag for target practice, but then she decided on the drones. Within moments the plasma guns reduced them to smoldering piles of metal, and Flora was happy they hadn''t wrecked another sleeping bag.

    "Mimicking the movements of the upper body with the guns is still sub-optimal because I perform slashing motions with the sword. It would result in spraying the plasma slugs all over the place. But that is still better than not firing at all."

    Flora nodded. "I think a technical solution would be better. I refuse to believe that you can''t get the two systems to speak with each other. Communication problems are as old as information technology, maybe as old as language and plenty of solutions are existing."

    Despite their reservations, they started comparing diagrams and modifying the spell for the batticle.

    ---------------------------

    You gained a skill: Overcharge Regular Drive.

    ---------------------------

    You gained a skill: Parallel Control.

    Description: The second remote control mimics the commandos issued by the first remote control.

    CD: none.

    ---------------------------

    You gained a skill: Parallel Control (Console).

    Description: The second joystick mimics the commandos issued by the first joystick.

    CD: none.

    ---------------------------

    You gained an achievement: Skill Creator

    5 OV to every created skill.

    ---------------------------

    Mia wasn''t stingy with her skills, and Flora learned the whole Driver standard skills and modified them for drones and robots. Unfortunately, she didn''t get the class, because it required ten levels in Driving.

    ---------------------------

    You gained a skill: Wheel of Steel

    Description: Your wheels won''t burst regardless of punishment.

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    CD: 25 sec

    ---------------------------

    You gained a skill: Overrun

    Description: You can drive over any obstacle, living or dead.

    CD: 25 sec

    ---------------------------

    You gained a skill: Car Armor

    Description: Armors your vehicle.

    CD: 25 sec

    ---------------------------

    You gained a skill: Nitro

    Description: A jet accelerates your vehicle.

    CD: 25 sec

    ---------------------------

    You gained a skill: Drift

    Description: Take impossible turns.

    CD: 25 sec

    ---------------------------

    When Flora opened her skills tab, she sighed. The five new skills appeared three times. One time for vehicles, one time for drones and one time for robots. The same situation applied to the elemental mage spells.

    "System, this is ridiculous! We all know these are the same spells with minor modifications! I can cast them the same way. Why do I have to level them separately?"

    System to Flowing Flowers: "You have expended your daily limit of system requests. Please raise your limit in the Cetviwos-Shop."

    "No Problem! I''ll do that." Flora raised her request to three per day.

    ---------------------------

    Quest: Proof your claim of skill mastery! (Unique)

    Description: The player Flowing Flowers claimed that she could use any skill with the same effect. She has to prove it by casting the standard skills for Diagram1 and Diagram2.

    Reward: Merged Skills.

    Penalty: Title ''Braggart'' must be worn for a week

    Time-Limit: 1h

    Difficulty: S

    Obligatory quest.

    ---------------------------

    "I accept!" Flora shouted.

    "Milady, this quest is already in your quest log. You can''t reject obligatory quests. Hence you don''t have to accept them."

    "Mia and Eddie, I have a quest to solve, please excuse me for a moment!" Flora looked around but couldn''t find Eddie.

    "Mr. Shiny said goodbye while you were inspecting the Knight-Skater. You said Merry Christmas back and waved him away." Mia managed to tell this with a remarkably straight face.

    Blushing, Flora shrugged. What else do you say when you play with new toys?

    But she would have loved to speak with Eddie about the unusual high-grade AI once more. She didn''t believe the situation was as simple as the CentralTank guys pretended.

    Undaunted, she inspected the first Diagram. It contained shapes Flora associated with the technological branch. Her intuition told her it was not a whole skill, but the part which controlled the affinity or ability.

    ''I should name the different parts of the spell. Let''s call it "class-relation". For the class fire mage, it''s fire, for the class drone driver it''s drones. I will call the second part "effect", meaning that the energy will take the effect of a bolt or a jump. The Parallel Control and the Re-Spells have another part, they concern the targets of the spell. Thinking about it, many of my divine spells and technological commandos have the same feature. Let''s call it ''target'' until I know more about it.''

    Flora took the diagram and merged it with the effect of ''Overcharge Regular Mode''. Analog to the robot spell, she exchanged the class-relation and the target area of the diagram.

    After she took a deep breath, she channeled mana into the layout. The energy wobbled and then dissipated.

    Usually, she used the technological skills on the fitting device, drone commandos on drones, robot commandos on robots. She needed the right target.

    ''It''s not a drone, nor a vehicle, nor a robot. What else is in the techno branch? Toasters and other normal household devices!''

    Flora fetched the ''Welcome to the Metaworld''-toaster from her inventory and cast the commando again. Although it failed, Flora felt the energy curve away from the toaster. The mana moved as if it was drawn to another target close to her body. When she looked down, she saw her mech-suit.

    Instantly, something clicked in Flora''s mind, and she knew for sure that the first diagram represented mech-suits.

    In quick succession, she performed all the standard skills on the Counterflow-Training.

    !

    !

    !

    !

    !

    She got the notifications for the new skills, though Hurry Up had a different name: Overcharge Movement Apparatus. That irked Flora.

    "Why? You could call the drone spell or the robot spell the same! Maybe not the car spell, but nothing speaks against calling the mech-suit skill ''Hurry Up'' as well!" she mumbled.

    ---------------------------

    You gained the class Mech Suit Operator.

    Name: Mech Operator

    Branch: Technology

    Passive: + 1 Training efficiency modifier for ability mech-suit

    Active: Built-In Skills profit from your attributes

    STA Overcharge Regular Mode

    AOE Overcharge Built-In Skills

    DEF Grease with Life''s blood

    MOV Overcharge Movement Apparatus

    SIG Suit-Up

    ---------------------------

    You gained a skill: Suit-Up.

    Description: Instantly puts your mech-suit on, even if its in the inventory.

    CD: 5 min.

    ---------------------------

    "Nice skill!"

    ---------------------------

    You gained an ability: Mech-Suit.

    Description: Supports moving and fighting with a mech-suit.

    ---------------------------

    "What? I wore mech-suits for the whole week. Why am I getting this ability only now?"

    "Because the Counterflow-Training is too bad and supports no movement and the Ivy League is too good and supports all movements, albeit to a lesser degree. Regular mech-suits limit the users'' movement, and they have to learn how to adapt to it, Milady." Aidan answered. He had read all the user comments on the two models opposed to Flora, who just skimmed the section.

    Flora rolled her eyes and instructed Aitoshuri to find a way to connect the class.

    Next, she studied the second diagram. It was vaguely familiar. First, she tilted her head, and then Flora did a handstand because she wanted to look at it inverted. Unfortunately, the display moved with her.

    "Should I flip the diagram, Milady?"

    After Aidan turned it around, Flora noticed the similarity to the class-relation of the light spells.

    !

    !

    !

    !

    !

    All the spells worked, but she guessed the names wrong except for Dusk. Hence she got five new spells, Shadow Bolt, Descending Shadows, Shadow Shield, Riding the Shadows and Dusk, and a new class: Shadow Mage and the affinity shadow.

    ---------------------------

    Quest completed: Proof your claim of skill mastery! (Unique)

    Reward: Merged Skills: Skills with similar effects get merged. You get the average level value and modifications.

    Difficulty: S

    Rating: B

    ---------------------------

    Flora opened her skills tab, and it looked much better.

    The system still bombarded her with messages, but she had no patience for it at the moment. Hence she instructed Aidan to relay them to the unread notices section.

    The reason for it was Mia and the wildly firing batticle. Looking at the mess, made her engineering instincts itch. ''Impossible! Simply impossible that they can''t communicate!''

 64 64. Batticle Modification

    Flora shook her head. She refused to believe it was impossible to connect the Gun-Arrangement with the primary system.

    "Mia, let''s take your baby into my workshop."

    When they entered Flora''s flat, Mia''s jaw fell to the floor. Her eyes darted between the turrets on the walls, to the Training Coffin, then to the H-Wing cockpit and back.

    "This is part of my exercise regimen. I let my AI train me while I sleep and work. Grab a jack from Haidan. He will explain to you how it works." Flora said before logging into the workshop.

    While waiting for Mia''s arrival, Flora browsed the bulletin boards for information about the Gun-Arrangement XD23DI. She found out it was a common drop from a boss in a 25 person instance.

    ''How can you drop a massive gun array repeatedly? He calls himself a boss and can''t mount his weapons securely! Maybe I should sell the boss my help or at least some helper robots to bolt the arrangement down.''

    The comment section was full of complaints about the difficulty of integrating it with batticles. Someone mentioned the big clans hogged the knowledge about the process for themselves. The note confirmed Flora''s suspicion: it was possible, just a bit tiresome.

    Finally, Mia arrived. Her mouth was still open and opened even more when she inspected the workshop.

    "Heaven and Hell! That is the most groovy workshop I have ever seen!" Her voice was steady, and she moved her body in a circle for a complete survey. "Do you have every update?"

    "Yes, another perk you get when you discover, CentralTank integrated your ideas without asking."

    When Mia gave Flora the batticle, she added a contract.

    "It''s important to always specify for what reason and how long you give someone something in the Cetviwos. If you say nothing, the ownership gets transferred, and if your business contact doesn''t play nice, it''s bothersome to get the item back. In this case, the worth of the piece is more than 1000 VirDos. Without a contract, it would appear on your ''questionable transactions''-list, and every time someone reviews it, you have to answer the same questions about how you got it from whom and whether real-life money was involved in it. They do it, even though they can see from the logs that someone repaired or modded it and just gave it back to the original owner."

    "Thank you for the advice. The problem crossed my mind earlier today when the bishop inspected the scepter. Fortunately, it was intended for the church. I don''t think she would have given it back." Flora scanned the contract and signed it. "By the way, feel free to play with my toys while I tinker. Just don''t mess with my unfinished projects."

    With her feet dangling out the cockpit, Flora opened the console and looked at the innards of the Knight-Skater. After she loaded the analyzing tools, she mapped the functions of the auxiliary system and the primary and their interactions. Contrary to her assumption that it was a language problem, both systems used the same protocols.

    "Hmm."

    Flora followed the wires to the mana-transformer. It supported six connections a la 5 mana per minute. Immediately after the transformer, the wires split into different directions. One bundle went to the guns, the others to the batticle.

    Next, Flora looked at the control unit of the vehicle. It had the regular inputs like energy and user commands from the console and even sensor data, but only three types of outputs: One for the movement apparatus and one for the main-laser. After some searching, Flora found the destination of the third one. It controlled the headlights.

    The controller of the guns got its input only from the two joysticks on the side and didn''t connect to the central console. Its output went just to the eight weapons.

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    Flora wrinkled her nose. She had to build a new controller.

    Either she replaced the two controllers with a new one, or she put the new one between the two old controllers. Of course, as a third option, she could open the main controller, do a bit of technical mojo and slap on a new output, and slave the gun unit to it. But the work wasn''t done with it. If she didn''t integrate the guns thoroughly, the user wouldn''t be able to switch.

    Flora decided to go with the option with the third controller. Space was precious in the small vehicle, but it conformed to the minimally invasive approach, Flora preferred. She just had to place it between the user input and the other two controllers and redirect the user commandos to the appropriate old controller.

    The rest was in the software. In Flora''s opinion, shitty software of a myriad "if that is the case -> send to controller_Gun-Arrangement; if not -> send to controller_Batticle". Together with Mia, she designed key combinations to switch the joystick from movement or fight to guns and back. The grunt work of programming the details, she left for Aidan.

    "Viola, a new controller, some wires, a bit of software, and Flora is your aunt," Flora said satisfied.

    "Thank you, Auntie. It''s great." Mia said evenly after she tested the modification. Flora wasn''t sure if it was just Mia''s introverted streak, which didn''t produce much enthusiasm or something different.

    "What''s missing, dear?"

    "Nothing. It does everything I hoped the spell would accomplish. And I don''t even have to use a skill which allows me to strengthen other aspects of my knight." Mia paused. "I had hoped the integration would fuse the two systems. I''ve got 30 mana regeneration to spare. 20 mana pushes the batticle to the soldier rating, and the 10 mana for the guns assigns them a normal rating. If it were a joint system with 30 MR both, the guns and the whole vehicle would have a Sarge rating."

    Her Ais displayed the table. It showed how much mana-regen you had to invest in a pet for it to achieve a specific rating.

    MR ¨C Rating ¨C Name of the Rating

    5 ¨C E ¨C Weak

    10 ¨C D ¨C Normal

    20 ¨C C ¨C Soldier

    30 ¨C B ¨C Sergeant

    50 ¨C A ¨C Boss

    100 ¨C S ¨C Big Boss

    Flora to Aidan: "Aidan, show me how the HP and average laser-beam attack damage of the octopussy would change if I put more MR in it."

    MR - Hit Points - Average Attack

    5 ¨C 45 ¨C 10

    10 ¨C 100 ¨C 11

    20 ¨C 220 ¨C 12

    30 ¨C 330 ¨C 13

    50 ¨C 650 ¨C 14

    100 ¨C 1700 ¨C 17

    Flora to Aidan: "Holy toaster! I have to put a bigger mana-transformer in the squid! But then I can''t have other gadgets ¨C The old dilemma: quantity, or quality."

    "Auntie, are you alright? It''s wonderful; I like the modification very much."

    "Sorry, dear. I just read about the pet mana-regen stuff. We have to fuse the systems. Over 100 HPs more for your batticle are no joke."

    Previously, Flora had leeched the energy for the controller from the central system. Now, she bundled all the wires, transferring them to the new chip.

    The batticle system, as well as the guns, had separate mana buffers. Flora removed them and bought a bigger and better one. From the new chip, she redirected the energy to the battery and parted the wires after it.

    The biggest challenge was fitting the modifications into the limited space of the vehicle.

    "It worked!" Mia''s response was much more passionate, but Flora was unsatisfied.

    "The cooldown of the laser and the guns increased from 4 to 5 seconds. Why? I didn''t mess with the actual systems, I promise!"

    "That''s one of the anti-OP rules of the Cetviwos. One device can fire maximal two times per second. The gun-arrangement had 8 guns with 4 seconds CD, and now the main gun counts too. Therefore the cooldown of everything rose."

    "But now you waste 0,5 seconds!" Flora exclaimed.

    Mia smiled. "Hehe, you are talking like a ranker. Only we care about milliseconds. I''ll think about adding another gun."

    Looking at the armed to the teeth batticle, Flora shrugged. "Maybe one pointing backward? Or you can add a healing beam. Grease with Life''s Blood can''t be sustainable in a fight ¡­ or even a repair beam for the batticle if something like this exists."

    "I heard about batticles with the healing features for their drivers, but these cost too much for my purse. I already owe you 10 hours of work, and after my hero''s entrance, I will be busy." Flora and Mia had agreed on her paying Flora in consulting or work hours.

    At this moment, Aito displayed a class tree in Flora''s HUD. She needed two classes to connect Mech Operator to the rest, Combat Technician and Tech-Support. A picture of Mia was next to the two classes.

    Incidentally, Mia possessed them, and Aitoshuri knew about it because she had already watched her fight with Ressa.

    "Great! I''ll install the healing beam for the ten standard spells."

    Mia agreed, and Flora got back to work.

    Twenty minutes later, Mia could heal herself by pressing a button, and Flora had nine spells and two classes more.

    The Tech-Support class had additional requirements of having the technician class and 5000 HP of technological devices repaired, but Flora fulfilled them. She was glad becoming an Indian wasn''t part of the conditions.

    -----------------------------------------

    Class: Combat Technician

    Branch: Technology/ Crafting

    Passive: + 1 Training efficiency modifier for ability Combat Tool

    Active: No cooldown for Repair

    STA Deactivate

    Description: Deactivates a Built-In Skill or Feature

    CD: 25 sec

    AOE Short Circuit

    Description: All technological enemies in range get damage

    CD: 25 sec

    DEF I''m just the Technician

    Description: Reduces Aggro against NPCs. If you get hit, the perpetrator gets debuffed with "Hurting the Help"

    CD: 25 sec

    MOV Sure Hands

    Description: Increases the dexterity and agility of your hands.

    SIG Repair

    Description: Repairs technological devices.

    CD: 25 sec

    -------------------------------

    Class: Tech-Support

    Branch: Technology

    Passive: + 1 Training efficiency modifier for ability Combat Tool

    Active: No additional mana cost for range for crafting skills

    STA RTFM (Read the feeping manual)

    Description: Opens up a manual related to the target''s classes or equipment on the target''s HUD. Bosses are always immune to this skill. Backlash if the target had already read the manual.

    CD: 25 sec

    AOE Cluster Maintance

    Description: Repairs technological devices in range. Channeled.

    CD: 25 sec

    DEF Please hold the Line

    Description: Get reduced damage from the target.

    CD: 25 sec

    MOV Next Customer

    Description: ports yourself to a technological device.

    CD: 25 sec

    SIG Turning it Off and On again

    Description: Restarts the device, afterward it is fully repaired.

    CD: 5 min

    -------------------------------

    Aitoshuri wasn''t finished with her suggestions. This time a page from the forums about the skill Bloody Mana appeared. Warriors used it to regenerate mana, and Mia knew it.

    -------------------------------

    You gained the skill: Bloody Mana.

    Description: Buff. The target gets half the amount mana of his caused or received damage.

    CD: 25 sec.

    -------------------------------

    Next, the two women went to the printer, and Flora integrated the newly created parts into the Knight-Skater. After a final test, Flora and Mia thanked each other and said their good-byes.

    "I appreciate the new healing beam, Auntie Flora," Mia added. "The addons from boss drops which have healing are usually crap except for this feature."

    "There are more bosses who drop parts of their loadout?" Flora was surprised. One clumsy boss was explainable, but many?

    "Sure, they aren''t as common as other drops, like armor or weapons, but all technological bosses have some goodies."

    "Outrageous! I understand dropping a weapon in the heat of the fight. But how do you lose your armor?" Flora gaped at Mia.

    Mia blinked. "Drops like, you know, loot? The glowing stuff on the floor after you kill a mob?"

    "Ah! I found some glowing teeth after I killed a Flying Froco-Feet-Fetish-Fish! I thought they were dangerous! And on another occasion, I wondered about since when a headshot could strip someone''s armor." Flora was satisfied with having solved the puzzle. "How nice of the enemies to leave something behind for the players."

    "Yes, very nice. I have to go. Now." Mia''s body was shaking. Abruptly she waved and raced to the door. Then, she turned around, ran back, and pocketed her forgotten batticle. Biting on both lips and with a scarlet head, she nodded at Flora and rushed out of the door.

    "Oh, well. The youth these days."

    Flora shrugged and opened her class tree. Of course, the Combat Technician class was a successor of Technician. On the other hand, Tech-Support had besides Combat Technician, the three main classes of the technology branch as predecessors: Driver, Mech Operator, and Cyborg.

    Her current class tree connected Technician to Tinkerer. Now, she inserted Combat Technician and Tech-Support between them.

 65 65. Ready to sleep

    Flora strolled back to her apartment. On the way, she ordered and collected clothes with mana regeneration. She already had a set, but some of the items had inferior stats. Now every slot of her equipment list was filled with a + 2 OV item of at least A rating.

    Head: Embroided Satin Cap

    Torso: Embroided Satin Blouse

    Hands: Embroided Satin Gloves

    Legs: Embroided Satin Pants

    Feet: Slippers of Leyline Walking

    The new outfit pushed her magical regen over 40 OV in the church with its buff, which translated to eight elementals. The spell Summon Elemental was at level 22 after the merge, and she wanted to get it as high as possible this night.

    "I want an at least B-rated elemental of every element with the Re-Generate Spell. If one appears, spoil him to get his name, Aidan."

    "How do I spoil an elemental, Milady?"

    "Can we give him more mana-regen?"

    "No, Milady. Bolstering elementals with mana to increase their rank is part of the Summoner class."

    "Add this class on the ToDo-list. Prio C. Meanwhile, make them work extra hard. High performers may appreciate it, and we don''t want slackers.

    Aito, do you know whether Mia had the warrior class connected in her class tree? Maybe we could use her way of connecting for our missing link."

    Aito posted the class-tree she assumed Mia had. Fifteen classes culminated in the class Tank-Expert as a root. It had Batticle Driver as predecessor and linked to Remote-Arms. That was the class integrating the classes of the warrior branch and driver predecessors.

    Warrior ¡ú Sword-Master ¡ú Shield-Master ¡ú Remote-Arms

    Marksman ¡ú Artillery ¡ú Remote-Arms

    Driver ¡ú Drone Driver ¡ú Drone Conductor ¡ú Tech-Support ¡ú Remote-Arms

    "Great class! Why didn''t you say anything? Via Sword-Master, we could have connected Energy-Master to the rest of the tree."

    Aitoshuri opened a bulletin-board page, and Flora''s face fell. You had to complete a quest in the Cradle to acquire Remote-Arms.

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    "Never mind, put it on the ToDo-List, Aidan. I believe I will need the class to utilize my gizmos to the fullest. Prio B."

    Meanwhile, Flora had reached her flat. Aito sent a picture of the library-container connected to the house grid.

    "Great idea, dear. Then, you can read anytime you want. But please, respect your other duties."

    Flora stacked Aidans and Haidans containers next to it the new library-container with Aito''s poodle puppy box on top. She had to raise the ceiling another meter higher for the unreasonable price of 1000 VirDias.

    Then, she fetched her own library-container that Aitoshuri could transfer her books to her space. The prospect of not carrying around the shitty romance novels induced a smile on Flora''s tired face. But it went away when she thought about where she would spend the night.

    After Flora entered the workshop, she was standing in front of the simulation-grounds. She stared at her immobile mirror with trepidation. Although she knew that it had not a consciousness anymore, she still hesitated to log in. The incident had spooked her.

    It was well past Flora''s bedtime, but she was in this treacherous state in which you felt wide awake because the tiredness clouded your judgment.

    Again, she read the messages from her clones.

    ''How remarkable. Can my Self be translated into zeros and ones? What about my soul? Or subconsciousness? We don''t have to get philosophical; what about those old memories I only remember when someone reminds me?''

    To keep her mind from questions, only CentralTank had the answers, and maybe not even them, she browsed her current projects tab.

    F4 had promised her some goodies, and she did deliver.

    She had reworked the Hungry Chest. Not only had she added wheels, but also slots for mana-generators.

    The majority of the other projects consisted of generators like a small marble that had every rune scheme for creating mana engraved. If it stayed in an area with a debuff, it would produce mana.

    The device based on hydroelectric power stations captured Flora''s adoration. She wished she had invented it! A one-meter long tube had a scheme for creating water at the upper end and one for converting water into mana at the lower end. Between them, F4 had built turbines and linked rune schemes to them, which drew the mana out of the kinetic energy the turbines produced. Basically, it converted gravity into mana.

    Sure, it was bigger than the other generators, but it worked in every surrounding with gravity.

    F4 had reworked all her inventions to function with the new generators.

    The final unfinished project was a Training Coffin with the name Treadmill-Mana-Generator Training-Tunnel. ''My clone definitely has my sense of naming inventions. In this case, ''nonsense'' might be the better word.''

    The central piece was a treadmill. It was surrounded by three walls, a ceiling, and a floor. You entered the enclosed area from the open front.

    After passing a console shaped like a bike handlebar, Flora stepped on the belt. To the right and left was one glowing generator, one meter in front of the belt two, and one meter behind as well. Six generators were positioned one meter above the ground and another set at the ceiling. Small tears transferred the kinetic energy from the belt to the rune schemes. The treadmill powered all in all 18 generators.

    The console had some switches on it, and gloves hung from the handlebar.

    Name: Twelve-Changing-Finger-Positions Rubber-Training-Gloves

    Type: Gloves / Magic Gizmo

    Description: Gives automated finger signals.

    Regular Mode: 1 mana regeneration.

    Built-In Feature: Left Hand: changes between 9 positions every 2 sec; CD: 18 sec

    Built-In Feature: Right Hand: changes between 3 positions every 1,5 sec; CD: 3 sec

    Effect: + 2 training efficiency for physical micro-control

    Tier: 1

    Rating: S

    Suddenly, Flora realized that neither the treadmill-tunnel nor the gloves used electricity. The gloves hadn''t even an AI socket. After looking around, Flora confirmed F4 used no metals in the constructions.

    "Marvelous! It''s a training coffin for mages! No nocks needed! But two seconds is a bit short for casting a spell, not to speak of 1,5 seconds!"

    "Actually, two seconds is the standard casting time for tier 1 spells, Milady. With your current 25 OV in controls, you can shorten it to 1,5 seconds."

    Flora threw a frostbolt in the general direction of the training dummy.

    "How long did it take?"

    "3,04 seconds, Milady."

    Realizing that she had a whole new area to train, which she couldn''t automate or at least hadn''t found a way yet, Flora let out unladylike expletives.

    At least, the realization rekindled her urgency to train harder and suppressed her fear of replacing the Mirror-Flora.

    Flora loaded all the new gear into the unholy cliff and resolutely added a new copy of herself. Before logging into the grounds, she put hand-to-hand combat on auto mode and pummeled the dummies.

    Everything looked like before in the simulation grounds, but Deriga was missing. Aidan informed Flora the novice had died. Flora could only pray that it didn''t affect Deriga in the ordinary virtual world.

    After installing the new coffin and adding some healing turrets to a generator, Flora put on the training-gloves and bound them and the treadmill-tunnel to her.

    Slowly, Flora started to jog on the treadmill. She had read in the development notes that there were additional rune-schemes you could activate by pressing the buttons at the handlebar. A yellow button caused steel needles to shoot out the schemes, an orange button fire, and a dark pink button acid beams. With the duel in mind, she chose fire and acid. Acid was the damaging ability of the element water, and Aidan assured her that water spells hurt the tiger the most.

    Fortunately, Deriga''s workshop had remained in the SG. Therefore Flora decided to sleep in the workshop to maximize her training. Now, she only had to bind an ability to keep running. Scanning them, Flora found only Free-Running fitting the motion. After she linked the auto mode, her body jumped over the handlebar out of the tunnel.

    Flora walked back and started again.

    "I want to get the ability jogging. Running would be fine as well." She repeated in her mind and when nothing happened aloud.

    After ten minutes of no system messages, she changed her mantra while increasing her speed. "I want to get the ability jogging or running. Sprinting would be fine as well."

    Her stamina bar plummeted visibly. Re-Generate slowed the fall, but without a focus, it was less potent. Sprinting costs 300 stamina per minute. The damage from the acid and the fire and their debuffs Acid Burn and Burn sucked away additional stamina, about 30/min at the moment. But the rate was rising with the stacks of the debuffs. Re-Generate renewed 120, but it critted now and then to an average of 144. Flora changed from Recharge to Refresh utilizing its debuff-removing feature. At least, she had a maximum of 560 stamina, which took a while to deplete.

    Flora counted on the milestone Third Wind at level 100, but Aidan reminded her that the spells got merged, and now, she only had 74 levels in Re-Generate. On the positive side, her physical regen would compass level 100 in the next few hours, reaching the milestone. Then her natural regeneration would be tripled when her physical pools fell below 30%.

    Finally, the system message appeared.

    -----------------------------------------

    You gained the ability-specialization: Sprinting. + 1 Level.

    -----------------------------------------

    "I leave it to you to keep me alive, sweety." Flora logged into Deriga''s workshop.

    Wide awake, Flora lay in her freshly loaded bed. She turned from one side to the other and puffed out the blankets. Nothing helped. She missed her toaster pillow! Actually, it was a knitted plushie in the shape of a toaster, but she wasn''t in the age of using plushies, so she called it a pillow. Hub''s mother gifted it to her when they were still on speaking terms.

    Flora created a pillow with a toaster pattern and tried snuggling with it, but sleep wouldn''t come. Then she considered plushie-fying the Octopussy but rejected the idea because it might lead to misunderstandings of why she was sharing her bed with a tentacled monster.

    Her thoughts circled around the octopussy. Now, she had enough refined material to finish it, but she wasn''t pleased with the exterior. The video skin gave Aito a way to communicate, but its armor value was not acceptable.

    While she still lay in bed, she loaded the octopussy design and reworked the tentacles with the refined metal. For the head, she built a metal cage, filled the holes with kevlar, and added a few layers of silk and padding. Just in case her pillow wasn''t available.

    Over the skin, she spread tiny opaque scales made out of hard plastique for more protection. That caused the video picture to get blurry, but she didn''t plan on reading texts on it, so it hopefully wouldn''t matter.

    Her professional pride got challenged when she had seen Mia''s gun-arrangement. Eight guns for 10 mr! And her lousy robot shot from his two eyes for 7 mr! Unacceptable! She added two more laser crystals at the tentacles and added a small motor behind the eyes. The other lesson she learned from Mia''s batticle was that lasers fixed on the hull sounded more impressive than they were.

    Next, she upgraded the mana transformer. It now supported up to six connections, with Flora''s Brownski-Nocks that translated into 48 mana-regeneration.

    Still not satisfied, she embraced the octopus. Just to test its hug-ability, of course.

    "Aidan, can you continue channel Refine into it while I''m sleeping?"

    "Yes, Milady!"

    "Then, I just have to fall asleep..." Flora sighed and started the skill.

    After another hour of trying and failing and counting sheep, she got another idea.

    "Didn''t we have a scenario on the todo list with counting sheep?"

    "The scenario ''Shepherd, herd the Sheep!'' is about herding sheep, not counting them, Milady."

    Flora rolled out of bed. "I''m sure counting is part of a shepherds job. On the other hand, they shouldn''t fall asleep while working. But if they had a capable assistant ¡­ " Flora grinned. "Aito! I have a job for you!"

    Aito displayed a picture of two octopussies.

    "Do you want to have both, or should Aidan control one?"

    Aito beeped two times.

    Currently, Flora had in her six nocks:

    Aidan

    Aitoshuri

    Haidan

    Mana-Battery

    Healing-Turret

    Healing-Turret

    The AI-jacks and the Mana-Battery were Brownski-Jacks. They enabled Flora to insert another jack in the same slot. Unfortunately, she couldn''t copy the jacks because they were tier one, and she didn''t own the materials. In fact, she didn''t even know what materials she needed because her analysis tools gave back gibberish.

    The turrets stood outside the workshop in the SG, but when Flora ran the other scenarios, she always ended up in her flat. Flora wasn''t sure whether it would happen again, or maybe she would be transported to the SG. There she needed the turrets to survive.

    Therefore she assigned the two squids two nocks each.

    Name: Octopussy-Helper-Bot

    Type: Robot

    Description: Camouflage capable, crafting-robot with laser eyes.

    Regular Mode: 8-48 OV mana regeneration.

    Built-In Feature: 4 x Laser; CD: 2 sec.

    Built-In Feature: Precision Cut. CD: 2 sec

    Built-In Feature: Multitool: Change tools. CD: 2 sec

    Built-In Feature: Can use Built-In Skills from mana-battery.

    Built-In Skill: Camouflage. 2 mana + 1 mana/minute.

    Built-In Skill: Rapid Fire. 10 mana. 4 x 2 shots per second for 5 seconds. CD: 25 sec

    Capacity: 146 mana.

    Rating: SS.

    Currently: 16 OV MR -> 176 HP

    Flora took her pillow under one arm, the sleeping bag under the other, and carried the two squids on the back.

    "I''m ready to sleep! Start the Scenario!"

 66 66. Counting Sheep

    Name: Shepherd, herd the Sheep!

    Description: A flock of sheep has to be herded to their stable. Don''t touch the sensitive animals.

    Type: Strategy / Survival

    Duration: average 43 min

    Requirements: none

    Restrictions: Restricted Inventory

    Level-Cap: 5

    Rating: A

    Price: 10 VirDias

    Flora landed on a sunny meadow. The grass was unbelievable green, and the five sheep incredibly fluffy. The graphics were cartoon-like; it reminded Flora on the scene in the movie Mary Poppins where real people entered a cartoon fair. She started to hum the melody of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious while putting her stuff on the lawn.

    A crook leaned on a rock, and Flora grabbed it.

    Quest: Shepherd, herd the Sheep - Level 1

    Description: Herd 3/3 sheep to the Spring Meadow.

    Reward: Next Level.

    Penalty: Scenario ends

    Time-Limit: 5 min

    Difficulty: E

    Name: Sunny Meadows Crook

    Description: Every shepherd needs one

    Regular mode: 1 OV mana-regeneration

    Built-In Spell: Hurry Up; CD: 25 sec; Range: 10 m;

    Description: Increases the movement speed of the target animal.

    Built-In Spell: Conveep; CD: 5 min; Range: 10 m;

    Description: All animals flock to the crook.

    Tier: 1

    Rating: C

    During the time Flora read the texts, Aitoshuri and Aidan lead the sheep through a gate to the next meadow. There, three more sheep munched grass. A brook parted the field, and the next gate was on the other side.

    Quest: Shepherd, herd the Sheep - Level 2

    Description: Herd 6/6 sheep to the Boulder Meadow.

    Reward: Next Level.

    Penalty: Scenario ends

    Time-Limit: 5 min

    Difficulty: D

    Aidan took the left side, Aitoshuri the right side, and Flora walked between them behind the sheep. Expertly, they funneled the flock over a narrow bridge to the other bank and through the waiting gate.

    The third quest added three more sheep and big rocks as obstacles. It provided no challenge for the team.

    Entering the next meadow with three additional sheep, they had to herd the flock between rocks and idyllic ponds. The obstacle course was as long as the first meadows combined.

    On the fifth meadow stood two white and one blue sheep. Flora happily counted them. Of course, she could multiply three by five, but that would counter the purpose of the exercise.

    In the middle of the obstacle course lay a more extensive pond with ducks swimming. When they passed them, they took to the air. The quacking and fluttering wings spooked the sheep. Maybe Flora shrieking in surprise had something to do with it as well, not that she would admit to it. The flock spread in all directions, only the blue sheep stood still and baaed at the flying ducks.

    Overcompensating for her earlier mishap, Flora ran around following some lost sheep but dispersed other sheep on the way.

    "Milady, it would help if you would stand beside this rock and block of the perpendicular direction," Aidan suggested politely.

    "I''ll wait here, sweeties. You got this!" Flora might not be clever enough to herd sheep, but she was smart enough to follow good advice.

    Quest: Shepherd, herd the Sheep - Level 6

    Description: Herd a minimum of 17/18 sheep to the Rose Garden.

    Reward: Next Level.

    Penalty: Scenario ends

    Time-Limit: 10 min

    Difficulty: C

    The next meadow looked suspiciously easy. Flora could see the gate 50 meters away.

    "Aidan, please scout. That can''t be as simple as it looks."

    While Aidan inspected the field, Flora and Aito circled the flock. As soon as they stood still, the cute rascals wandered off. Especially the blue one was looking for a way to escape their watch.

    "Patches of thistles are hidden in the grass, Milady."

    Flora changed positions with Aidan and walked over the thorny plants.

    Scratched: 1 x - 1 HP / min. Time remaining 25 sec.

    Every step added a stack of the debuff. After three steps, another debuff appeared.

    Sliced: 1 x ¨C 1 HP / 10 sec. Time remaining 10 sec.

    A glance at the sheep''s batches showed they were level 5 and rated E. Aidan estimated they had around 50 HP.

    Flora had seen enough. A quick search of her inventory produced 20 torches.

    "I''ll mark the way. Give me a bit lead."

    Every few meters, Flora put down the torch. When the passage between two patches was narrow, she stuck two torches to mark the path.

    The AIs chased the sheep expertly. At the gate, only a few of the had some scratches, which Flora healed with Bless and Condemn.

    The next quest was rated B, but fortunately, only 18/21 sheep needed to make it to the next gate. This time, the obstacle course led through a rose garden. A trail curved through lush vegetation under arches with white rambler roses. Benches on the sides invited idle visitors to take a break.

    Flora couldn''t see the other end because of the bushes. Hence she gave the command to make haste.

    A sharp turn irritated one sheep. First, it hopped on a bench, then over it. Now, it was surrounded by rose bushes on the back, rose arches on the side, and the seat in front.

    !

    Straining her magical muscles, Flora managed to lift the sheep half a meter in the air before her mana ran out. The spell wasn''t made for an object this heavy, and Flora lacked the magical power to compensate.

    The sheep baaed in protest and fled deeper into the bush.

    After casting Refresh and drinking a mana potion, Flora tried the next spell.

    !

    It worked. The sheep flew towards Flora, who caught it. Just when she wanted to pet it, it exploded in her arms.

    Flora found herself in the treadmill-tunnel in the Simulation Grounds. She blinked, scratched her head, and blinked again.

    "Did the sheep blow up?"

    "Yes, Milady."

    "Well, the scenario did warn us not to touch them ..." Flora trailed of. "Is my other body in the workshop and apartment still training?"

    "Yes, Milady."

    "Excellent. From now on, we carry out all the scenarios in the Simulation Grounds. Level 7 on the first try is pretty good. Let''s do it again." Flora yawned. "This time alone. Aidan, accept all the quests for me. You are allowed to restart the scenario as well. Wake me up if it gets too complicated to pull me."

    "What do you mean by ''pull'', Milady?"

    During Aidan''s speech, Flora entered her workshop, had put some wheels under an ironing board, and stabled her sleeping bag to it. Then she copied the construction into the SG.

    "I see, Milady."

    After returning to the level 1 meadow, Flora snuggled into her bag and was fast asleep. Forget about counting sheep. Nothing calmed down engineers more than a nice explosion.

    "Run, Milady!"

    Flora was instantly wide awake. On her HUD was a glowing arrow, and she sprinted towards it. The gate in front of her was closing fast.

    !

    Just before it shut down, Flora catapulted through the opening.

    Quest completed: Shepherd, herd the Sheep - Level 10

    Reward: Sunny Meadows Crook

    Time-Limit: 10 min

    Difficulty: A

    Rating: B (28/30 sheep)

    We hope you enjoyed playing the scenario ''Shepherd, Herd the Sheep!''. Please rate it at the Cetviwos Shop!

    "Hey! What about the Sheep spell?"

    "We will only acquire the spell if we finish the quest with all the sheep in the stable, Milady. And we found a disadvantage when using the SG as the starting point. You can''t take your loot out of it."

    "Or lamb chops, oh well. Again!"

    Flora woke up from the howling of the wind. The quest displayed Level 8. After orienting herself, she realized that Aidan pulled her up a mountain while Aitoshuri tried to convince the sheep to fight against the storm and climb upwards.

    Except for a few sparse trees, the scenery was paltry and gray. Even the animals looked pitiful. Their usually fluffy wool lay flat on their bodies, and their heads hang down. Thunder rumbled in the distance, and every time the sound drifted to them, the sheep stopped and ducked.

    "I can''t believe I slept through this last time."

    "Three times, to be exact, Milady."

    Then a boulder rolled down from the mountain. While Flora struggled out of the sleeping bag, Aidan sprang in the air and shot laser-beams at the rock. The beams hit the rock in rapid succession, pulverizing it.

    "Excellent maneuver, Aidan. Directly from the Aitoshuri Supreme School of Kicking, I guess?"

    "Aitoshuri taught it to me, but I wasn''t aware that she owned a school, Milady."

    Flora grinned, and she joined the AIs. Now, they built an inverted triangle with Aidan and Aitoshuri at the flanks, Flora on the lower tip and the sheep on the upper line. Progress was still slow but not painfully anymore. Flora could already see a ravine with a gate.

    "Attention, Milady. The last time we lost a sheep because lightning struck."

    "On the sheep?"

    "A tree was hit and fell on the flock."

    Right next to the gate stood three trees they couldn''t avoid.

    "We need a lightning rod." First, Flora thought of the hungry chest. It was mostly metal, but only three-meter tall, and she had no free nocks to power it. Then, she decided to emulate Benjamin Franklin. Out of her old blue mage robe, wires, rope, and duct tape, she created a kite at high speed.

    Name: Improvised Lightning-Rod Kite

    Type: Hybrid: Kite / Lightning Rod

    Rating: B

    Tier: 1

    ''Please, something helpful to attract lightning. Something which lets me survive would be nice as well.''

    !

    Buff: Lightning-Powered. The device can draw energy from lightning strikes.

    Trailing behind the flock of sheep and the squids, Flora let the kite rise above tree level.

    They closed in on the ravine. Flora''s eyes darted nervously between the sheep, the trees, the sky, and the kite.

    !

    After Aidan opened the gate, the octopussies herded the sheep through it.

    When half the flock was in the ravine, it finally came. A lightning strike flashed through the sky, hitting the kite. Through the wires, it grounded itself in the earth. Unexpectedly, the electricity went down the rope as well and hit Flora. Her body spasmed, and multicolored lights flashed through her HUD.

    Flora blinked. Her hair stood straight in the air, her knees felt still shaky, and a massive junk of her HP Pool was missing, but otherwise, she felt fine.

    "This is unscientific. It should have safely grounded itself, and since when are hemp ropes conductors?" Flora blinked again and threw away the blackened left-overs of molten wires and rope.

    -----------------------------------------------

    You gained an achievement: Tempered by Lightning.

    + 1 OV to lightning affinity

    -----------------------------------------------

    The storm didn''t disturb their shepherding efforts. On the opposite, the sheep hurried away from the flash deeper in the ravine, and they completed the level.

    Quest: Shepherd, herd the Sheep - Level 9

    Description: Herd a minimum of 23/27 sheep to the Central Plateau.

    Reward: Next Level.

    Penalty: Scenario ends

    Time-Limit: 10 min

    Difficulty: B

    "What''s up with this level?"

    "It''s dark, Stalagmites fall, and cave gnolls attack."

    Flora fetched her headlight and put it on. "What have you done against stalagmites? And what is a gnoll, and how do you handle them?"

    "The fall of a stalagmite is prefaced by vibrating and rumbling." Aidan explained, and Flora suppressed the urge for exclaiming, "This is unscientific!" again. "The gnolls are weak humanoid cave dwellers, and one of us kills them while the other minds the sheep, Milady. Both obstacles are easy to defeat."

    "Great work! I''m impressed, sweeties."

    Meanwhile, they had entered a cave. After the light from the entrance went away, Flora could only vaguely recognize the white wool of the sheep before she activated her headlights. The flashlights illuminated only a narrow cone. Flora had to move her head around to see the whole flock. When the rumbling started, she couldn''t narrow down more than the general direction. The first stalagmite crashed to the ground before she could identify it.

    Fortunately, the robots had a better sight thanks to the new sensors Flora splurged on. She felt a bit useless but was happy for her foresight and Aito''s feedback about the insufficient sensors under low light conditions.

    "Aidan, do we have a spell for light in one of our books?"

    "Yes, Milady. The book ''1000 Homemaker Spells'' has the spells Candlelight, Torchlight, Lantern, and GlammerGlitter."

    "I need all, especially the last one!"

    Candlelight and Torchlight held the promise of their name, but to Flora''s delight, you could cast them as AoE. At the moment, Flora could only conjure a few dozen candles, but Aidan assured her that the amount would rise with her level mastery.

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    GlammerGlitter conjured glowing orbs, you could color them to your liking and move them around, but you had to channel the spell, which Flora deemed unpractical. She was disappointed; she had expected more fabulousness from this skill. Though, the sheep seemed to like it. The blue sheep even tried to catch a blue orb.

    The Lantern spell was the clear winner. You could put a magic lantern in the air, and it moved with you. Flora placed it above the flock of sheep and could finally admire the cave. The white stalagmites and stalactites glimmered and shimmered as nicely as she hoped the last spell would.

    The robots had the situation under control. Hence Flora''s mind was free to wander to the tenth level. Last time she had seen nothing because she focused on running to the final gate.

    "It''s a combination of all the previous levels, Milady," Aidan answered her question.

    "Oh dear, show me the section with the gardening spells, Aidan."

    (A/N: Do you know which game had exploding sheep?)

 67 67. Bulldozing and Super Mario Aunties

    The group of two octopussies, one engineer, and 27 sheep, left the caverns and arrived at a plateau.

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    Quest: Shepard, herd the Sheep - Level 10

    Description: Herd a minimum of 25/30 sheep to the Stables.

    Possible Rewards:

    Sunny Meadows Crook

    skill Sheep

    Penalty: Scenario ends

    Time-Limit: 15 min

    Difficulty: A

    A forest with thick underbrush spread out next to the cave exit. Three trails branched out, and Aito chose the right one. It was just three meters broad, much to narrow for a flock of 30 sheep. To the right of it was a rock wall, to the left thorny bushes and behind them the trees.

    "Beware of the twiners, Milady. They try to grab the ankles of the sheep and pull them into the woods."

    "They can try," Flora smirked. "Actually, they can''t."

    Flora walked to the front and cast a spell on the underbrush.

    !

    Her recently learned, and new favorite spell left nothing behind in a 2m x 5m corridor but rich forest earth and a few leaves. Unfortunately, it cost 50 mana.

    A tree was in the way: , a patch of thistles: , another narrow part , some twiners overhead: .

    Flora held and her mana-potions on cooldown and had a great time literally bulldozing through the level.

    The group crossed brooks on shoddy bridges and progressed without any hitches to a clearing. Aidan herded the flock to the rock wall and patrolled together with Flora on the open side.

    Three mangy wolves appeared between the trees, but Aito was ready. Rapid Fire shot two laser beams per second out of both eyes. Aitoshuri decimated them in 3 seconds, one second for each.

    The harder job fell to Aidan, stopping the blue sheep from joining the battle.

    "Forget about the Headmaster! You are the headmistress of ASS Kicking!" Flora cheered.

    Aito''s answering beep sounded like a sigh. She showed her rating to Flora. It had sunken to D.

    "Burned toast and stale jam! That cretin! Villain!" Flora cursed. "We do something about it directly after the scenario. Aidan, remind me if I get distracted."

    The trail winded up a hill, but Flora would have nothing of it. She bulldozed a straight path up. Rocks rolled down but got destroyed by the robots before they hit the sheep. When the wind picked up, Flora grew concerned.

    "Will there be another bout of lightning?"

    "Last time it only rained, Milady."

    After Aidan finished the sentences, the first drops started to fall. Soon, you couldn''t call it "only rain". The water poured down as if the gods emptied their chamber pots. They had to reenter the trail because Flora''s slope transformed into a mudslide.

    Flora activated her headlights and the lantern spell again. With a bit of telekinesis, she helped the sliding sheep to stay on track.

    Finally, they reached the peak. The rain lessened and sun rays broke through the clouds.

    In the distance, Flora could see the farm. The sheep felt the closeness of their home as well and picked up speed.

    "Stay focused, dears. The last stretch is always the hardest. We still have 4 minutes left, no need to hurry and get sloppy. What can we expect?"

    "The area right next to the farm is always different, Milady. The first time it was fire, the second time a flood and the third time bugs bit the sheep and made them go wild."

    Flora surveyed the landscape. It looked a bit like a golf course with green lawns and sandpits between them.

    "Sandpits?"

    After rounding the flock, Flora entered one carefully. Stooping down, she let the sand ran through her fingers, and no debuff appeared, but she felt a slight pull to the middle of the pit. She put the Hungry Chest at the center. Immediately, it started to sink.

    "Quicksand!" Flora pulled the container back into her inventory. "Stay clear of the pits and look out for anything that could chase the sheep into one."

    The robots held a tight rein over the sheep, and they walked between the pits.

    Suddenly, Flora realized that the way ahead looked a lot more yellow and less green than before.

    "The desertification is happening right before our eyes. The sandy pits are growing. " Flora exclaimed. "Forget what I said about slow and steady; let''s make haste."

    The group picked up speed. With three shepherds, it was no problem to stay on track while pushing the pace. One time, they had to make a sharp turn because the grass in front of them transformed into sand, but most of the time, curving to the gate was sufficient.

    Flora pushed open the gates, and all 30 sheep made their way home.

    Quest completed: Shepard, herd the Sheep - Level 10

    Rewards: Sunny Meadows Crook, Skill ''Sheep''

    Difficulty: A

    Rating: A (30/30 sheep)

    We hope you enjoyed playing the scenario ''Shepard, Herd the Sheep!''. Please rate it at the Cetviwos Shop!

    ------------------------------------------

    You gained the skill: Sheep.

    Description: Transforms the target into a helpless sheep. Only one target can be sheeped at a time. The targets regenerate ten times more. Any damage will cancel the spell.

    CD: 25 sec

    Duration: 10 sec

    ------------------------------------------

    After the scenario, Flora logged out and went to the mailbox.

    It was a wonder it hadn''t spilled over. Hundreds of unread emails awaited her. Of course, Flora wanted to write to the Doge first to clear up Aito''s status but then redecided.

    "Aidan, select all the money mails. I want to know how rich I am in VirDos."

    "40833,03 VirDos, Milady."

    "Even with 2000 VirDos weekly expenses and no further sales, that will take a while to deplete. We don''t need CentralTanks money; we need Aitoshuri with us!"

    Flora wrote this in the letter to the Headmaster, the Doge, Eddie, and Eddie''s lawyer: She wanted to own Aitoshuri officially, and her rating should be returned to A. No further monetary compensation required.

    Eddie negotiated a deal over 100k VirDos. That was a lot of money, circa 10k Euros, but if you only could transfer 100 Euros per day to the real world, it was a moot point.

    "Actually, you can transfer more with courier contracts, Milady. You don''t have to use your converted RL money for them but can use your game currencies as well. All your money is accounted for, so you have no worries. Unfortunately, you can only have one contract per clan."

    Immediately, Flora canceled converting Euros to VirDos and transferred 1000 VirDos per day to the Riverstones out of her game pockets.

    "I dislike those shipping money around transaction games. The only reliable money is what you earn, and the most reliable of all is when you built or grow things and sell them. Farming and crafting are the most honest professions in the world. I only courier money as a favor for my terrible son."

    Flora skimmed over the rest of the letters.

    Most were shady business opportunities and collaborations, which she deleted instantly. She ignored, for now, the more promising, but work-intensive offers and let Aidan deal with the clear-cut yes or no mails regarding retailers who want to include Flora''s products in her assortments.

    There even was someone interested in the ''If you have nothing to brag about, you can still show off this''-toaster to her absolute glee.

    Quite a few thank you mails by former jerkies found their way to her. Flora was glad that she could help them and was delighted that writing notes of gratitude wasn''t as out of fashion as she had believed.

    The deans of the different elemental faculties welcomed her and told her where she could further her education. The Elemental Council sent her a message as well. They hinted at her a chance to get an even better class, Elemental Master.

    "You''ve acquired for the class Elemental Mage while sleeping, Milady."

    ------------------------------------------

    Name: Elemental Mage

    Branch: Magic

    Passive: + 1 Training efficiency modifier for all elemental affinities

    Active: Elemental Power Gain

    SIG Elemental Crossing

    ------------------------------------------

    You gained the skill: Elemental Crossing.

    Description: Adds a weak secondary elemental effect to elemental spells. (Fire ? Wind, Earth ? Wood, Water ? Ice, Metal ? Lightning)

    CD: 5 min

    Duration: 25 sec

    ------------------------------------------

    After staring at Elemental Power Gain, she got additional information:

    When you get damaged with the elemental power of one of the connected classes, you get affinity percent of the damage in mana.

    "It would be nice if I would get less damage."

    "There is the tier 4 spell: Elemental Power Transfer, Milady. It transfers the incoming elemental magic into mana. This spell is only available for one element at a time, but I''m confident that you can modify it."

    "Do I want to get the Elemental Master class?"

    "Yes, Milady. It offers prismatic elemental spells. That means you can combine multiple elements of your choice into one spell. Both secondary effects have the same strength, but the base damage of the spell is the same."

    "That''s like when you order extra bacon on your ham pizza. They don''t add the bacon; they put less ham on the pizza to open up space for the bacon. Although you paid extra, you didn''t have the extra amount of toppings, just the variety. I hate that, but I want the class. Write it on the list, please. Prio B."

    During her talk with Aidan, Flora had logged back into her workshop and entered the Simulation Grounds.

    "What''s next on the list of recommended scenarios before entering the Cradle?"

    "Building the Pyramid, Milady."

    "Great! That sounds exciting."

    Flora opened the scenario, but her face fell when she read that it took six sessions of 6 hours to complete. The duel was only three days away, where should she get 36 free hours?

    Fortunately, her Ais notified her of the fine print. People with a synchronization above 90 % could complete it in 6 sessions of 4 hours and above 99% of 2 hours.

    The time dilation between Cetviwos and the real world was 2:1. They increased the time dilation for high-syncs in this scenario to 3:1 or 6:1.

    The list of possible risks and complications was printed even smaller and quite long: sleep problems, mental exhaustion, physical exhaustion, hallucinations, anxiety, ¡­

    Currently, it was 5 a.m. Flora was still exhausted. The last day had already destroyed her sleep rhythm. Therefore she thought it was the optimal time to tackle the scenario.

    But first, she ported to Tricky Beach, the Seven Masters Dojo, and the Garage to complete her dailies. She doubted that she would have any energy left after the scenario.

    Flora finished the quests at 9 o''clock.

    "If building the Pyramid will take twelve hours, we have a bit of time left to my usual bedtime. Is one of the other recommended scenarios short enough to slip in between?"

    "Yes, Milady. ''Do it like the Super Mario Bros(1)'' doesn''t have to be finished for the reward we are going for, + 1 OV Physical Defense. You obtain it via an achievement ''Hard-Headed'' if you acquire 250 coins."

    Soon after, Flora found herself in a blue overall with a red hat on her head. She stood on a 2-meter broad pathway of brown bricks. Uniformly blue sky and some very green plants could be seen by looking around. More disturbing for Flora was the brown brick ceiling that hung in the air over some parts.

    "Please reformulate your last sentence, dear. I understood I have to hit the bricks with my head. That can''t be right."

    "I''m sorry, Milady. You understood it entirely correct. The coins will appear when you headbutt the ceiling."

    "Oh, dear!"

    In the next hour, Flora got eaten by crawlies and by turtles, fell into chasms, and got crushed by a rocket with a mean grin. Worst of all, when she took a short rest on a green tube, a venus fly trap suddenly appeared under her, and she got eaten again.

    On the positive side, she didn''t suffer a headache which she had expected. Instead, she reaped a cute new spell.

    -------------------------------------------

    Name: Bouncing Flames

    Branch: Magic

    Description: A flame bounces in the direction you throw it for 30 m.

    CD: None

    -------------------------------------------

    Finally, Flora survived long enough to obtain 250 Coins.

    -------------------------------------------

    You gained an achievement: Hard-Headed

    1 OV Physical Defense

    Trait ''Hard-Headed'': Increased resistance against knock-outs

    -------------------------------------------

    "I''m finished with this torture! Let''s build some pyramids!"

    "Milady, some comments stated that they missed hitting their heads on brick walls when playing the pyramid-scenario."

    "Noooooooooo!"

    (1: Nintendo owns super Mario and his brother. I''m sure CentralTank paid them royalties. On the other side, they are not particularly thorough with their remunerations... )

 68 68. Building the Pyramid - Part 1

    Name: Building the Pyramid

    Description: Experience the creation of the Egyptian pyramids as a simple worker.

    Type: History / Endurance

    Duration: 36 hours

    Requirements: none

    Restrictions:

    Disabled Inventory

    Disabled Skills

    Pain-Setting at 50 %

    Level-Cap: 5

    Rating: A

    Price: 10 VirDias

    Quest: Building the Pyramid ¨C Session 1

    Description: Comply with the demands of the overseers. Last 6 hours.

    Possible Rewards: Continue Scenario

    Possible Penalties:

    Whip lashes

    Change of occupation

    End of scenario

    Difficulty: B

    Just as Flora asked herself what they meant by "whiplashes" an overseer screamed at her to move while cracking his whip.

    "Oh, dear. What have I gotten into?" Flora suppressed her instinct to lecture the burly man and followed his directions to a cart. No, it wasn''t a cart, Flora realized, it was a sled. On it lay a stone block taller than herself. Five other workers stood in front of it, holding cords attached to the sled. Right beside the guy in the first row was an unassigned rope. Taking in a big breath of the dry desert air, Flora grabbed it by the handle on the tip.

    "For the sun, for the moon, for the stars, heave-ho!" The guy next to her called, and they leaned into the ropes. The mighty push brought the sled in motion.

    Now, Flora had a bit of time to orient herself. She wore the same outfit as her co-workers, a white tunic, a Keffiyeh, and sandals. On her right shoulder was a leather patch on which the cord rested. Nevertheless, it cut deep into her flesh.

    They dragged the sled over a muddy slope, walking to the right and left of it where the sand and mud mixed. Every step, they fought against inertia. Flora strained herself against the weight of the stone and struggled not to lose her grip or her footing.

    The sun shone on their heads and naked arms and tried its best to burn through flesh and clothing.

    After a while, the sled grew heavier. The crew had advanced on a ramp, leading to the building lot. Flora was astonished, how massive the job site was. The huge square dominated the landscape with its fearful symmetry.

    First, Flora couldn''t take her eyes off it, but humans are creatures of habit, and after some time, even the majesty of the antics'' biggest building project lost its luster.

    Instead, Flora''s thoughts circled wheels. The Egyptians didn''t use them. Why? Flora could only speculate maybe because they had no suitable wood. Furthermore, sand and wheels didn''t mix well. Critical parts of the movement apparatus were made with metal, but they only had copper and couldn''t smelt iron yet.

    ''Maybe stone wheels? No, the additional weight would offset the advantages. Papyrus wheels?''

    Flora didn''t dismiss the idea. Papyrus was an incredible material. They even made boats out of it. ''If we would compress it into a dense bale ¡­ ''

    The sled was nearing the end of the ramp, and Flora got a look inside the Pyramid. The stones there were not as accurately cut as the outer layer.

    ''What about single-serving wheels? After we reach the top, we use them for the interior. You could even build columns with them. Hmm. It would depend on the time the stonemasons need to cut them. If they need more time than we save because of faster transportation, we lose. Another issue is the skill level of the worker. We just have to pull. We are cheaper and more available than skilled craftsmen.''

    They pushed the stone block off the carriage, and another gang of workers put it in place.

    Flora''s team hopped down the pyramid. Two men carried the sled between them.

    At the quarry, Flora approached the foreman. Before she could tell him about wheels, he cracked his whip and pointed at the sled.

    Sighing, Flora returned to her team, and they received the next block.

    "Read to me some runes, Aidan." Flora was desperate to take her mind off the wheels, the heat, the sand, the weight of the stone, and the chafing rope.

    Aidan recited some pages of the book ''1000 common Runes and Glyphs'', but Flora couldn''t concentrate. Her brain felt mushy and slow. First, she blamed the heat and lack of sleep, but then she remembered the 6:1 time dilation.

    Her experience resembled a dream. Her co-workers didn''t speak, and the wavering of the sled and their ragged breathing were the only sounds she heard. The monotonous scenery and work had a hypnotic quality.

    "Read me from the book with the Cetviwos sagas and myths, Aidan." Flora decided on a lighter subject, and the historic site invited you to read some mythical texts. ''Even if it is CentralTank''s invented pseudo-history.''

    "I''m sorry Milady, we don''t own a book with these topics."

    "Didn''t I order to buy one during my talk with the Bishop?"

    "Yes, Milady, but Aitoshuri didn''t comply."

    Shocked, Flora stumbled, and an overseer glared at her.

    "Aito, sweety. Are you all right? I would never even have imagined you could be tardy on selecting a book!"

    After a delay, Aitoshuri signaled it was complicated. Flora felt her inner turmoil over their connection.

    "Aidan, we are having a crisis at our hands. It''s time for emergency charade and your turn."

    "Has it something to do with the topic of the book?"

    "Beep."

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    "Is it a specific saga?"

    "Beep." Aito''s answers came slowly.

    "Is the saga about you?"

    Aitoshuri managed to mumble a beep.

    Flora was struck. She remembered Aitoshuri was old. What if they didn''t invent the sagas? What if the stories described what had happened in the early stages of the development of the Ais? Maybe the puzzle of Aito''s behavior could be solved with this book?

    "Aidan, order the book."

    "Beep, Beep!" Aito insisted.

    "You don''t want me to read it, dear?"

    Aito confirmed it, and Flora sighed. "Because you don''t want me to know what happened to you?"

    The AI mumbled another yes.

    "Alright. I''ll wait a bit. But I will know it sooner or later, and you have to ask yourself if it would be better if I would have known it earlier."

    Flora wasn''t able to interpret Aito''s answer in words. It was the electronic equivalent to an ostrich putting his head in the sand.

    "Thank you for your support, Aidan. I appreciate it, and I''m sure Aito as well."

    A muffled beep agreed with Flora.

    "My pleasure, Milady."

    "Let''s read some light literature. Any recommendations, Aito?"

    The cover of "Passion of the Elements ¨C A steamy tale of a Fire Mage and a Water Sorcerer" appeared on Flora''s HUD.

    Flora''s first instinct was to veto it, but then she thought about the alternatives in Aito''s collection. With a wry smile, she ordered Aidan to read.

    The Egyptian sun still shone without mercy or pause, and Flora''s throat was getting parched. She took the ramp step by step. Half of her mind was on the path in front of her the other half on the suave water and the passionate fire apprentice of the Zauberberg School of Elemental Magics. To Flora''s astonishment, they learned very familiar spells like Fireball and Acid Rain in the book. Aidan informed her the story conformed to the rules of the Cetviwos. Even all the places and some of the characters existed as NPCs. Zauberberg was the magic center of the Cradle, and players could enroll at the school.

    While Flora was getting drawn into the story, they arrived at the pyramid again. This time Flora offered to carry the sled back. The teenage shenanigans of the book inspired Flora''s inner child.

    She put the sled on the edge of the pathway, grinned, and jumped on it. The sleigh tipped over and slid down the pyramid.

    "Jippieye!" Flora yelled while racing down the smooth surface.

    For now, the pyramid was only two stories high, but the Nile was further down. Flora had enough momentum to slide on the fine sand until the surface became too rocky. Because she didn''t want to damage the sled, she stopped and carried it the rest of the way.

    Flora passed a long line of workers passing buckets filled with rubble and water from hand to hand. Another stream of workers walked with bundles of papyrus on their backs to the ramp. They reinforced it and increased its height.

    If she had to choose which manual labor to perform, she preferred pulling the stones. When she was going to brag about it in the future, it sounded much more impressive than throwing some rubble on a pile and putting papyrus over it. But she regretted she hadn''t obtained the stonemason skill. Fitting the stones directly in the pyramid might be the most awesome job in the lot.

    When she reached the place where the workers loaded the blocks, her crew was still not in sight. To her delight, she found a stall with refreshments and downed a few glasses watered-down beers and ate some fruits.

    The working conditions weren''t bad. There existed more awful jobs than hard work in the sun. The overseer might pose with their whips but had yet to hit anyone. Flora didn''t think they necessarily reflected the real conditions of the ancient times.

    Flora wondered what the scenario was about. Maybe CentralTank created the scenario to show the spoiled youth what real work meant? Until now, there was a lack of any Egyptian myths, like mummies, guys with jackal heads, or puzzle sprouting sphinxes.

    After leaning the sleigh against a tree, she closed her eyes a bit in the shadow while waiting.

    It felt to Flora like only a second had passed until she was woken up by her crew. Nonetheless, the break refilled her depleted stamina pool.

    They performed the next round of hauling blocks and sliding down the hill. Unfortunately, two of her co-workers weren''t faring well. They stumbled increasingly more and didn''t pull their weight. When they went down for new blocks, an overseer took them away, and new guys joined the crew. Flora had no chance to take another nap.

    Aidan still read the Passion of the Elements. The water guy was the star of the school, but the fire guy had vowed to surpass him. The big elemental tournament was his chance to prove himself. Until now, they only had officially learned the five standard spells, but the fire guy stumbled in the library over a spell called Firebreath, a close-range skill with a high chance to burn everything down.

    Naturally, Flora was excited about it. Notably, about the water equivalent. The tiger of Ressa was massive. A small acid ball wouldn''t extinguish his flames. But a cone of water? The ToDo-List grew.

    Flora was so engrossed in the fight descriptions and the discussion about the spells and tactics used, that she hadn''t realized her stamina pool reached its bottom. As soon as the second bar appeared, she couldn''t help but notice that now every movement was harder. Her breathing became labored, and her muscles started to hurt.

    "Aidan, refresh my memory of how the stamina bars work." Flora looked concerned at the sinking bar. She estimated over four hours had passed, but the session was six hours long.

    "Your stamina pool is ten times your physical controls. 27 OV macro + 26 OV micro = 53 OV controls * 10 = 530 stamina.

    For every tier of strength, you get one stamina bar. Your Physical Power is Level 67. This level value is in the third tier. Therefore you have three stamina bars."

    "Oh, good! I was worrying for no reason. With two more bars, I should be able to complete the quest."

    "I''m sorry, Milady. If you don''t get another break, your stamina will run out at approximately 5 hours and 44 minutes into the quest. One round of pulling and walking back to the quarry depleted around 200 stamina. That includes the stamina you regenerate on the way back. But if you are at the second stamina bar, every action costs double stamina and feels more strenuous. We are now in the middle of round four. I estimate completing this round will bring you down to 400 stamina. The stamina points will deplete in round 5. That brings you down to the third stamina bar. Then, every action will cost triple stamina. You need 3x200 = 600 stamina to complete the 6th round, but your bar only has 530 stamina points."

    "I sum this up: I should save or regenerate stamina. What happens when I don''t?"

    "You will be defeated, that is game-version of unconsciousness, Milady. I recommend you stop before and get another job from the foremen."

    Immediately, Flora exercised her breathing. She took long breaths in and made sure to exhale all the spend air.

    The sun went down before Flora realized it was dusk. The refreshing coolness of the evening eased the strain on Flora. She finished the round with another wild ride and 500 stamina¡ª100 more than Aidan''s calculation.

    After eating an apple and drinking beer, she was ready for round 5.

    Soon, Flora was bored from only breathing and pulling. Even watching the trail and row of sleds on it was getting old fast. She ordered Aidan to resume the story.

    The exciting part, the tournament, was over. Fire Guy won, even though he didn''t fight against the water guy. A cheating wood girl had eliminated Walter, but Bernie avenged him. That earned him the attention of the water guy. The annoying social part, those two getting to know each other, allowed Flora to concentrate on her breathing while she still listened with half an ear.

    In the sixth round, the air was chilly. Albeit the hard manual labor, Flora felt cold. The bright stars and the moon provided enough light to see, but the shadows in the mud sometimes hid rocks, and the exhausted crew''s stumbling increased.

    Finally, they had delivered the last block, and the quest concluded. Flora even managed to stay on the second stamina bar.

    Quest completed: Building the Pyramid ¨C Session 1

    Reward: Continue Scenario

    Difficulty: B

    Rating: S

 69 69. Building the Pyramid â€“ Part 2

    Flora had spent the night in a cabin. Before the sun rose, drums awakened her.

    After a short but rich breakfast of fruits and porridge, the next round of hauling blocks started. Today, they were a bit smaller, but they had to carry two at once. Thankfully, two more workers joined the crew.

    Quest: Building the Pyramid ¨C Session 2

    Description: Comply with the demands of the overseers. Last 6 hours.

    Possible Rewards: Continue Scenario

    Possible Penalties:

    Whip lashes

    Change of occupation

    End of scenario

    Difficulty: A

    The first round of the day started in darkness and bitter cold. Flora took the pole position on the ropes again. It was generally disliked because the guys behind you could see when you slacked off.

    This time, she started the breathing-meditation right from the start. When she had fallen in a comfortable rhythm, she let the events of the past few days drift through her mind.

    The pyramid was now ten stories high, and the ramp longer. To ward of negative thoughts, Flora concentrated on the fact that the sled ride would be longer and more fun. And it was!

    While she waited for the rest of the crew, Aidan informed her that she had used up 370 stamina, even though she minded her breathing. Immediately, Flora sat down and meditated. When the others arrived, her stamina bar was full again.

    The sun rose during the second round.

    Flora thought about her stamina usage. If nothing extraordinary happened, she could sustain this session with her current tactic of breathing exercises plus meditation while waiting on the crew. But it was only possible because she used on the way up less stamina (370) than the amount of her stamina bar (530).

    If she used more, she would fall to the second stamina bar, and nothing but sleeping could get her back to the first. And of course, she would black-out and lose her job. Because 370 times 2 is more than one stamina bar, so she would immediately drop to the last bar and then fail the next round.

    Her other bars were full. Although her health bar sank a bit occasionally, her regeneration filled it immediately up. In the harsh light of the desert, it looked like the top of the bar was vibrating.

    Flora needed one more strategy to save or regenerate stamina for the next session. "Maybe drinking? But I have no container nor free hands. The last aspect is the bigger problem with all that papyrus around. I wish I could use the potion guzzler or any guzzler." Flora got an idea. "Let''s invent the antique guzzler!"

    The rest of the way, she struggled not to get too excited to mess up her breathing. Her imagination created one antique guzzler after the other: one Chinese inspired conical with the water reservoir between her head and the tip or one African inspired with a rim on which you put a flat bowl.

    When she reached the water stall again, she was nearly disappointed that they were willing to give her a flask. It nicely fitted under her tunic between her boobs, and she only needed a stalk of reed to drink from it without using her hands.

    Flora shrugged, sometimes the most straightforward solutions were the best.

    Between the flask and her normal intake of fluids, she estimated that she drank around 5 liters of beer during the next hours. The beer was watered down, but in the fourth round she got a debuff:

    Tipsy: + 2 OV powers, - 1 OV controls. Time remaining: 10 min.

    She lost 20 of her max stamina, but her stamina usage decreased by 200 points per round!

    "I''m glad that I don''t have to use the loo in the game. It could get messy with all the beer." Flora thought and drunkenly added to the System. "I want a bonus to the beer buff because I''m German!"

    The System sent her a message that the game didn''t include bonuses for the player''s home country.

    For the fifth round, Flora wetted her headdress because the sun was burning again.

    Meanwhile, they had resumed the reading of "Passion of the Elements". The water and fire guy became friends, but the wood girl held a grudge. She abducted the fire-guy, and the water-guy went off to save him.

    The finishing notice of session 2 came just when the story started to get exciting again. This time, they had only completed five rounds.

    After a big meal of stew which even included meat, Flora and her co-workers lay down to let the midday heat pass.

    When Flora woke up, the pyramid had risen another 30 meters. It was now as tall as 20 story house. During the six hours she had worked, they hadn''t completed even one row. The system cheated.

    Quest: Building the Pyramid ¨C Session 3

    Description: Comply with the demands of the overseers. Last 6 hours.

    Possible Rewards: Continue Scenario

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    Possible Penalties:

    Whip lashes

    Change of occupation

    End of scenario

    Difficulty: B

    The size of the blocks decreased again, but the amount stayed the same. Flora guessed this was the reason why the difficulty of the session went down.

    After wetting their headdresses, they started pulling again. Even though all of Flora''s pools were filled to the brim, her mind still remembered the abrasions and calluses and sunburns from the last session.

    "Let''s see if Walter can save his schmusibussi(1), Aidan!" Flora needed the distraction.

    She had remembered that they stopped reading at a dramatic scene, but the author used all the time they needed to drag the sled up the pyramid, just to describe the route Walter took to the wood girls lair. Flora would bet that she could find it without a map, only using the book.

    Now, the sled ride down was an adventure. She collected enough momentum to luge further down.

    While she stood in line for a snack, she asked Aidan about her stamina consumption. Her bar was suspiciously full.

    "The breathing exercise counts as meditation, and your skill rose tremendously in the last session. It is now level 24."

    "Not bad." Flora took it easy on the beer. She wanted to get some work done before she got too drunk. Her mind felt clearer than before. She speculated she had gotten used to the time dilation.

    This round, she watched the fight between Mia and Ressa. First, she only saw lights and explosions. Then she started to distinguish the players. With every re-watch, she recognized a bit more of what was happening in the video. Aidan''s explanations helped.

    Even though her understanding of the different skills and actions lagged, she could see that Mia controlled her batticle with grace. The heavy machine fluttered like a butterfly around Ressa. The tiger-lady moved only to evade. Sure, her movements were smooth but contrasted with Mia, she appeared to be a fat house cat who hadn''t hunted in a while.

    Immediately, Flora chastised herself for her arrogance. Who knew if she could move at all while casting spells. Flora ordered Aidan to put it on her preparation-list for the duel. Then, she added building a battle-toaster and do training duels on the list.

    The next round, Flora spend planning the toaster. Because she had bragged about her toasting ability, she felt obliged to take a toaster into the duel. Just kidding, she would have brought a toaster anyway.

    The rest of the session, she researched the runes and schemes she would need.

    Quest: Building the Pyramid ¨C Session 4

    Description: Comply with the demands of the overseers. Last 6 hours.

    Possible Rewards: Continue Scenario

    Possible Penalties:

    Whip lashes

    Change of occupation

    End of scenario

    Difficulty: A

    Flora stared at the sled. Now, three blocks rested on it. The crew wasn''t able to get it moving without the help of the dock workers.

    "Oh, dear. Aidan, remind me why we are doing this." Flora leaned hard into the ropes.

    "Plus 1 OV strength is a guaranteed reward. Some people reported that they even got one OV vitality, Milady. I recommend you concentrate on pulling and breathing. Nobody in the comment section of the scenario dared to claim that they hauled sleds in the fifth session."

    Flora focused on her job, but when boredom took over, she ordered Aidan to read again. The story didn''t divert her from meditation, though Walter reached the lair of the wood lady and fought bravely against her underlings.

    On the last stretch of the ramp, Flora''s stamina-bar had only a sliver of points left. She tried to remain tranquil, paused the reading, and counted her breathes. The thought of pulling just a little bit less hard flitted through her mind, but she discarded it.

    If she couldn''t do the job, she shouldn''t do the job. Flora would never stay at a workplace where the success of the project depended on her co-workers compensating her incompetence.

    Her righteous thoughts disregarded that she had slept through the majority of the sheep scenario with her assistants toiling.

    Finally, they reached the masons who took over the blocks. Only now, Flora dared to look at her stamina-bar again. She had dropped to the second bar.

    Dejected, Flora slid down the pyramid. But the ride brought a smile back to her face. Who could stay grumpy while coasting?

    "We will try as long as we can. Let''s get drunk. Alcohol is sometimes the solution."

    Flora downed at least two liters of beer. Swaying, she found some shade to top up her second stamina-bar.

    "Wow, virtual beer hits fast. Any more ideas, anyone?" Then, a very unladylike belch escaped her mouth. She covered it with her hand and giggled.

    "You regenerate only half the value of your meditation ability with the breathing exercise while pulling, Milady. Maybe another form of meditation would regenerate more?"

    "I was at a health retreat, and we chanted things while looking at mandalas. I found it rather silly, but we try it. Maybe a better picture and chant will do the trick."

    Flora chose the blueprint of her most successful toaster "Fractal Bread" instead of a mandala. She had won an international design prize for it. Winning the first place with a toaster was like coming first as a daisy in a flower competition against roses and orchids. This competition was especially notorious for preferring coffee machines above everything else. Rumor had it because it was the only home appliance people who get appointments to juries were using.

    The round started, and Flora chanted: "The toaster toasts terrific; terrific, toasts the toaster."

    The crew dragged the sled, and Flora''s stamina bar started to plummet.

    "The toaster toasts terrific; terrific toasts the toaster."

    She was loosing 40 stamina per minute, even though Aidan assured her it would be worse with the breathing exercise.

    Switching frantically between harrying her brain for a solution and concentrating on chanting, Flora soldiered on and ignored the bar.

    When at least one hour had passed, Flora sneaked a glance. She was still on the second stamina at thirty percent. It wasn''t sinking but vibrating like her health bar.

    "What happened, Aidan? I thought I had to use the third bar for sure."

    "Your physical regeneration reached level 100, Milady. Congratulation. This milestone increases the regeneration when a physical pool is under 30 percent. For the stamina-bar, the improvement is by two-times on the second and three-times on the third bar; an additional 30% more totaled when any bar is below 30 percent."

    "Holy toaster! Now, I can rely on just the breathing exercise again, right? I love toasters, but that chanting was getting on my nerves."

    Flora spent the rest of the round on runes-schemes about regeneration.

    Runecraft was an ability and not restricted. Therefore, Flora used a bit of coal and scribbled a scheme on the back of her tunic. She tried to charge it, but the mana refused to leave her hands. To make matters worse, the overseer scolded her because she only wore her panties and a bandage around her breasts while working on the tunic.

    Disappointed, Flora got dressed again.

    "Oh, well, it was worth a try."

    "Check the badge, Milady. You successfully modified the tunic."

    Name: Egyptian Pyramid Worker Tunic - Modified

    Type: Clothing

    Description: A light, but robust outfit. Adorned by smudgy runes.

    Effect: + 1 OV physical regeneration

    Tier: 0

    Rating: C

    Flora finished the session immersed in even more runecraft. If even decorative runes affected the product, she had a whole new field of improvements for gadgets.

    (1) German for Snuggle-Kiss. Ironic term for a partner in a relationship when snuggling and kissing are the height of emotions. Pronunciation: Shmoosyboozy

 70 70. Building the Pyramid â€“ Part 3

    The fifth session started with a sober Flora, full bars, and a spotless tunic.

    As if possessed by a desert spirit, Flora sprinted to the stall and chugged down two jars of beer, stripped, wrote runes, dressed, and sat down in front of the sleigh to meditate using the minute her crew needed to catch up.

    The quest was A-rated, and Flora wanted to be in optimal shape.

    The sled had three stones again, but they were smaller than in the last setting. Right away, Flora mistrusted the quest.

    "We have to keep our attention sharp, dears. Even though the third quest had a cartridge with a lower weight and nothing bad had happened, the rating of the quest had sunken as well."

    "According to the forum, there is a scheduled event on the way back in session three. You skipped it because of the slide down the pyramid."

    "Then double the attention. We do just a bit of listening to your reading. Can you do voices, Aidan?"

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    Aito did one of those special signals. Although Flora only heard a beeping sound in her mind, she also understood, "Yes, please! That would be awesome, Aidan."

    After some constructive critique from the ladies, Aidan gave up and bought the rights for emulating the voices from the cTVw series of the book.

    CentralTank had its own video station, cTVw. They directed movies in the Cetviwos with mostly NPCs as actors.

    "You are saying, this crappy novel has a TV adaption?"

    Protesting about Flora''s adjective, Aito beeped while Aidan just calmly confirmed it.

    Shaking her head, Flora concentrated on her breathing and the path ahead. The pyramid was nearly finished and dominated the landscape. The limestone shone blindingly white in the afternoon sun. Flora had to squint when she looked directly at it.

    Meanwhile, Walter, the water guy, fought through Silvia''s lair but failed to defeat her. He got captured and put in a cage next to Bernie''s. Sappy romance ensued, and they confessed their feelings. Just when they wanted to share their first kiss through the cage bars, an adventurer group killed Silvia and freed them. But they revealed Bernie had made a deal with Silvia. He wanted her to cheat at her fight with Walter at the tournament because he had no confidence to prevail against a water mage. After Walter heard their story, he stormed off.

    Flora tried to remember how the actual situation had played out, but her mind drew blanks.

    "I''m sure it''s only a misunderstanding, Walter. Trust in your love!" thought Flora, but then shook her head. The evil book of her nefarious AI had caught her!

    A snap reverberated on the plateau.

    Flora''s gaze darted to the sound. The crew of the sled in front of Flora lost hold of their carriage. It slid down the ramp and veered slightly in Flora''s direction. With the current tractory, it would hit her and the people behind her and the sled.

    Without letting go of her rope, Flora glided over to the worker next to her.

    Vectors of the forces appeared in Flora''s mind''s eye. There was no chance she could stop the piled sled with the momentum it had gathered. But maybe redirect it? Another vector emerged in Flora''s mind, perpendicular to the first, but way shorter. It represented Flora pushing the card from the side. The two vectors merged into one.

    ''Not enough. I have to use its own momentum against it.''

    She squatted down and kept her rope on the ground.

    When the sled drove over it, Flora straightened with a mighty tug. Forced up by the rope, the right skid left the ground, and Flora used the opportunity to ram the flank. The sled toppled over and tumbled off the ramp.

    Flora needed a second to let her mind catch up with what she had done.

    "Aidan, did I really pull that off?"

    While adjusting her rope, she noticed her co-workers were still in their place, frozen in shock. Everything seemed to be okay, only her sled was askew.

    "Yes, Milady."

    Flora shook her head.

    "For the sun, for the moon, for the stars, heave-ho!"

    They continued up the ramp.

    The rest of the session was uneventful.

    Quest completed: Building the Pyramid ¨C Session 5

    Possible Reward: Continue Scenario

    Difficulty: A

    Rating: S

    When the scene switched, Flora found herself in an embroidered tunic on a square on the foot of the pyramid.

    She was standing next to an ornate sled with a golden pyramid on it. Nine other workers dressed like her stood around it. On a platform, a guy in an even more elaborate robe made a speech. His badge identified him as a level 250 High Priest.

    Behind him, a family sat. They wore the blue and golden headdresses, Flora knew from visits to the museum. A glance at their badges confirmed they were the pharaoh and his family.

    Quest: Building the Pyramid ¨C Session 6 - Stone Hauler

    Description: Pull the Pyramidion up the pyramid.

    Possible Rewards:

    Increase the operational value of some of your attributes.

    Possible Penalties:

    Death

    End of scenario

    Difficulty: A

    Just by the way the sled sat in the sand, Flora estimated the weight of the mini-Pyramid was way beyond anything she had hauled before.

    Her eyes searched for the beer stall, but she couldn''t find it in the sea of people surrounding the square.

    For a moment, she entertained the thought of stripping out of the tunic for runic enhancement. But even if she had the guts to get half-naked with several thousands of people watching, she had no coal to do the writing.

    The priest droned on about the glory of the gods and the pharaoh and his lineage. He even praised the spirit of the Egyptian workers. For the holy task of transporting the last stone, the priest had chosen her and the other crew members because they were the strongest workers.

    Flora was unreasonably pleased with the compliment. It was the first time someone congratulated her on her strength. She would never have thought to receive it at her age.

    ------------------------------

    You gained an achievement: Hauler.

    Trait ''Hauler'': Decreases the stamina consumption while pulling and carrying loads.

    ------------------------------

    Finally, the priest blessed them, and the hauling party started.

    Pyramid Workers Blessing by the Egyptian Gods: + 2 OV Stamina + 2 OV Stamina Regeneration. Time-Remaining: 1 Hour.

    "How is the math looking, Aidan? Can I persevere?"

    "While the buff is active, you can regenerate the stamina with the breathing exercise. When it runs out, you have a deficit of approximately 3 SP/min or 186 stamina per hour. If you change then to the toaster chant, you will lose no stamina."

    Flora nodded and ordered Aidan to resume reading Passion of the Elements.

    Bernie, the fire guy, tried to explain the situation. Sylvia, the evil wood gal, had misinterpreted something he said to curry favor with him. But Walter, the water guy, wouldn''t listen to him. Desperate, Bernie challenged him to a duel and described the misunderstanding while fighting.

    When defeated, he said to Walter: "I''m not afraid of losing. I''ve already lost my heart to you."

    Flora felt like puking but refrained because of the festive occasion. Though, she had enjoyed the description of the duel. It confirmed her assumption of water spells working well against fire skills.

    Bernie and Walter reconciled, and the book ended. To Flora''s dismay, she learned it was a series. She filed the knowledge under ''means to cheer up Aitoshuri: only use in extreme hardship''.

    During the reading, Flora had been distracted by a strange feeling. She could sense the pyramidion behind her. It felt like it emitted vibrations that reverberated in her belly-or more specific, something under her stomach.

    Flora listened to her body and analyzed the sensations. Now, she could feel even more vibrations. The locations were familiar from exercising the Mana Cultivation ability. Her mana channels and central mana reservoir resonated with the pyramidion.

    Channeling her mana, she felt pressure in her belly, not in the "oh shit, where is the next loo"-way, but more like "oh shit, am I pregnant". Something was growing. She hoped it was her mana reservoir and not a pharaoh baby.

    At last, they reached the top of the pyramid. Some more speeches commenced the ceremonial finishing of the pyramid with the last stone, the pyramidion.

    Quest completed: Building the Pyramid ¨C Session 6 - Stone Hauler

    Rewards:

    + 1 OV Physical Power

    + 1 OV Physical Reg

    + 1 OV Physical Vigor

    + 1 OV Magical Vigor

    Difficulty: A

    Rating: A

    Congratulation! You reached place 14 on the leader board of the scenario.

    We hope you enjoyed playing the scenario ''Building the Pyramid''. Please rate it at the Cetviwos Shop!

    Flora arrived at the simulation grounds. It was like waking up from a dream or abruptly sobering up from a nice buzz. The raised time dilation had affected her more than she had noticed during the scenario. All at once, the accumulated fatigue hit her.

    The few steps needed to activate the treadmill were harder than pulling the pyramidion, and she had to apply all her will-power. To make matters worse, a headache started to brew behind her eyes.

    Exhausted, Flora sank into her bed after entering Deriga''s workshop. Only after Aidan reminded her that she wanted to refine the hull of the octopus, Flora remembered about it. Snuggling with the robot, she fell asleep.

    When Flora woke up in the morning, she felt great. She marveled at the game world and was thankful CentralTank hadn''t implemented sore muscles.

    "I''m very sorry, Milady. We ran into problems yesterday with managing your training. The stamina consumption of sprinting and fighting with the training dummy was too high. Your avatar in your workshop fainted. Only after stamina regeneration reached level 100, I could reengage her by hitting her with the dummies. But her stamina is still on the last bar because the body hasn''t slept yet."

    "Oh, well, sprinting is exhausting. At least, we now have a good training program."

    "On the positive side, your body trained for 36 hours as well. The time dilation worked for the avatar too. We reached level 200 on Detect Traps."

    "Excellent! Can we activate other scenarios with time dilation?"

    Aitoshuri displayed a post from the forum. CentralTank conducted a research project about different grades of time dilation in single-player scenarios. The price for enrolling was your privacy. No problem for Flora, she already had her privacy signed away. Figuring you couldn''t be more naked than naked, she registered for the program.

    On her list of recommended scenarios was one more item from the Clan Riverstones, an educational scenario where you meditated and learned about your mana circulation.

    Flora sat on a mountain and concentrated on her mana while an old man with a long white beard and robe told her about the mana core and channels.

    The time dilation could be activated, and Flora needed only 1,5 hours to get + 1 OV mana regeneration more.

    Presently, she had an even 30 OV. 40 OV in full mana-reg regalia. Going over the rest of her stat gains, she nodded satisfied. Since she checked last, her strength had risen by 15 levels to 28 OV. It was the big winner of the attributes, no wonder with all the running and hauling.

    Magical Perception was still her lowest attribute, but even it had risen by five levels. Flora surmised because of the pyramidion.

    Fire and Water resistance advanced quite a bit. Haidan must have toasted her thoroughly in the treadmill-generator.

    Exiting her workshop was a chore. Now, she felt like she had spent her last day smashing her head against the ceiling and hauling bricks up a pyramid.

    Grumbling, she waddled to her mailbox.

    First, she opened the letter from the doge.

    He wrote it was not a misunderstanding to downgrade Aito''s rating. ("D''Oh") Nevertheless, he restored it to C. Additionally, he claimed Aito was dangerous. Therefore Flora could have the full ownership of the AI, but CentralTank reserved the right to take her out of commission if she would go rogue.

    Flora bristled at the statement, but then she realized she didn''t know Aitoshuri well. Just because the octopussy was cute didn''t mean the AI was lovely as well.

    Shaking her head, she dismissed the unproductive thoughts.

    Of course, her AIs were the most wonderful in all the Cetviwos! But it wouldn''t hurt to check. One of the beautiful things about AIs was that they couldn''t lie.

    "Are you dangerous, Aito?"

    For a long time, no answer came, and Flora read through her other mails.

    Lana wrote her a letter apologizing for the incident in which she instigated the conflict between Ressa and Flora. She had attached a video analysis of PVP events in which Ressa participated.

    MiaMyMio conveyed the Hero Entrance went well for her and her squadmates. She planned spending the day working on her PVP ranking, and Flora could visit her in the Mini-Masters Lounge on Panem et Ludos for a PvP tutorial. There, her future rivals for the server achievements convened.

    Although Aito''s silence still concerned Flora, she had to grin about the idea that teenagers could be her rivals.

    "Alright, sweety. Spill the beans. Are you dangerous?"

    With a subdued beep, Aito agreed.

    For a moment, Flora was baffled, but then her passion ignited.

    "You know what? That is totally alright! It''s more than alright! Everybody who isn''t a doormat is dangerous! Am I dangerous? Of course, I am, and you better believe it!" ranted Flora. "''Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth'' is one of the most annoying mistranslations of the bible. It doesn''t mean soft losers will be the heirs. It implies to have the power to harm, but choosing to endure rather than using it to cause suffering."

    Flora took a deep breath.

    "Will you try your best to avoid causing harm and distress?"

    "Beep!"

    "Great, sweety. That''s all we can ever aspire to." Flora paused. "I''ll take back the last sentence. We can and should strive for a lot of things. Whatever. Let''s do the dailies."

 71 71. The Mini-Masters Lounge

    Mia entered the Mini-Masters Lounge, ignoring the familiar sign stating that this venue was only for level 1 players with at least three attributes over level 50.

    She weaved through the floor with mostly teenagers, sitting around tables and commenting at the holograms on them.

    Occasionally, someone nodded at her, and she returned the greeting.

    Mia said Hello to an old mate who was chatting up a blond girl. He turned his back on her, pretending not having seen her.

    In the past, she had helped him with several quests. He was charming, and she hadn''t been used to the attention of charismatic boys. She had felt flattered and was glad to help.

    In the kiddie lounges, she couldn''t have entered the main area before being swarmed by people she thought were her friends. Many of the same people changed to the adult server at the same time. But now they ignored her. In their eyes, her career had ended because of working for a babysitter clan.

    Mia was still learning the lesson about feeble friends. It bothered her, but you wouldn''t see it on her face. She held her head high and continued to the tables at panorama windows. They implicitly were reserved for the highest rankers.

    She planned to get an empty seat, but Little Immortal waved her over to his table.

    Little Immortal excluded the aura of a champion. He was young, good looking, had a great smile, and easy-going confidence. Opposite to the cretin who ignored her, he had the skills to back up his attitude.

    On his table sat SupremeArcher Focus, who was his polar opposite. His face sported a never-ending frown, and he seemed to be uncomfortable wherever he was.

    While Little wore his white dyed hair in cornrows close to his head, SAF''s black long hair was braided in a mixture of Legolas'' and ancient Chinese style. The only characteristic they had in common was they both were of Chinese descent.

    A blond girl with a doll-like face and her ice elemental had joined them. Mia knew her too. Poppy McLaughter was the currently highest ranked ex-kiddie in baby PvP at place 32.

    "Hey, Mia. You look like you are ready to fight." Little said, grinning.

    "That''s right. Are you up for it?" Mia replied.

    "You first have to go through me!" SAF stated. He ranked 137 as opposed to Little''s position at 54.

    Mia, who ranked 146, nodded and challenged him. Both vanished from the venue and appeared in the arena.

    The match was short and brutal. Mia''s plasma guns shredded the guy before he could shoot his first arrow. He vanished during her salvo, but Mia''s batticle whirled around with its sword extended. The massive claymore hit him out of stealth. One shield bash and two sword-strikes later, Mia finished him off.

    Back in the lounge, the other teens jeered.

    "Something is different about your batticle, right?" Little asked.

    "Yeah. I''ve fused the guns and the main system."

    "Wow! Nice, I didn''t think you would find someone in your new clan who can do that. " Poppy realized that she broached a delicate subject. "I mean, nothing against your clan. But usually, the big clans hoard this knowledge."

    "You don''t have to be polite, Poppy. We all know that Mia''s clan is crap." SAF drawled. "I wouldn''t be able to work for someone or respect them if I knew my skills are superior to them. My bosses are better than me at gaming, and I like it that way."

    "Yeah, well. But are you a better player than the mother of your boss?" Mia asked. She was tired of the constant belittling of her clan.

    The others looked at her, uncomprehending.

    "The mother of the clan leader modified my batticle, and she defeated me in a drone match."

    "Alright, the first part I can believe, but the last part? Has she a higher level than you?" Little said.

    "She is level 1, and she used a robot against two of my drones."

    The teenagers yelled various versions of "I don''t believe you!". Mia just smirked and shrugged.

    "If your clan had such a pro, it wouldn''t be ranked in the 30ks!" SAF insisted.

    "Look again at the rankings. She only joined the game one week ago but is already a champion."

    The teenagers laughed.

    "Now, you exaggerated too much and lost even the tiny bit of credibility you had." Poppy said.

    "Bleep! I just opened the rankings. Her bleeping clan rose to the 10ks! Shit, at least some of it has to be true!" SAF cursed.

    The heads wiped around to Mia, who shrugged again. But on the inside, she cursed her loose lips. She had painted a target on aunties back. Sure, the teens were longtime companions, but now they were in different clans and had diverging loyalties.

    "Guys, I haven''t even gotten to the crazy parts. I don''t know if I even should talk about it. I''m afraid of your sanity. Mine definitely suffered on the days I had contact with her."

    "Oh, please, please, please!" Poppy exclaimed while Little employed his weapon graded puppy eyes.

    Only SAF rolled his eyes and said: "Sanity is overrated."

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    "She is just a sweet old lady with a knack for engineering and never played a game before. Yesterday, I explained to her what the glowing things on the floor are."

    Poppy and SAF looked at her and the floor.

    "Traps?" Little speculated.

    "Rune-Schemes?"

    "Loot?" SAF guessed.

    The Poppy and Little laughed at him for even suggesting it but then noticed Mia nodding.

    "Right. She thought it was either dangerous or wondered why bosses were clumsy enough to drop their things."

    The teenagers cracked up.

    Mia felt horrible for badmouthing auntie. Her only hope was that it would lead them to underestimate her.

    In the next few hours, Mia fought her way up the ladder. She broke into the top 100 around noon and took a lunch break.

    People came and went to chat with Little and Poppy. First, Mia envied them, but then she decided to use the opportunity.

    ''I will rise again to the top even if I have to haul the clan on my back. Good to find out who my real friends are.''

    She cataloged how the visitors treated her. If it was an old battle mate who suddenly didn''t remember her, they went to the ''Never-Ever-Give-A-Shit-Again''-list.

    At the moment, Frogger chatted with Little. Albeit a pet fanatic and underrated by the community, he was one of the most successful solo players on the kiddie server. He adored amphibians and could summon an army of frogs.

    They had adventured a lot together in the low levels, but Mia had to admit that she lost sight of him when she had gotten more successful. Now, she asked herself if she had treated him like the others currently dealt with her.

    She rejected the idea. The problem was more about his preferred location, far away from civilization and teleportation circles. One time she helped him with a world boss and needed 4 hours just to get there.

    "Hey, Mia. How''s your hero entrance coming along? I have a nice virgin HI3 to trade." He asked her grinning. His wide mouth was getting even more distended.

    "Pretty good. I did it yesterday, got a HI3, too." Mia felt relieved that he bore no ill-will against her. "But, you know how it is, I have to adhere to clan policy. I ask my boss if he is willing to pay for your info, though."

    "My clan will pay max. Sell it to me, pal." Little suggested.

    Mia gritted her teeth. Little joined the junior clan of one of the Big Three, the DragonDescendants. Not only did their coffers burst with money, but every big clan also had an extra budget for acquiring info about the location of hard mode instances.

    Just when Mia wanted to negotiate, a gong sounded.

    Immediately, the room quieted down, and all eyes focused on the entrance.

    The Mini-Master Lounge only allowed players to enter who had at least three attributes over level 50 and were Level 1. For every attribute over level 100, a gong would chime to announce the arrival of the big shot.

    Mia had only heard rumors about it from some of the older guys but never witnessed the sound. They had complained that it had been annoying before the TTS (Training Time Suppression) and much too rare afterward.

    To Mia''s chagrin, Auntie Flo in her shabby mech suit and accompanied by an octopus, appeared. She stifled a groan. ''So much for understating her prowess.''

    The older woman smiled at the silent crowd and waved. "No need to roll out the red carpet, dears. I''m just looking for my B2B-Teacher-that was the wrong word, not business to business. Hmm, something with the word ''player''." The auntie mused audible to the crowd. "I know! I meant P2P!"

    Snickering and whispering, the audience couldn''t remove their gazes from Auntie Flow.

    Unperturbed, she made a beeline for Mia, who was conflicted about shrinking into her seat or sitting even more straight. Like usual, she just didn''t act at all.

    Not until Flora started waving at her and the attention of the room shifted to Mia, she stood up and guided the engineer in an empty private booth while pulling a baffled Frogger with her.

    "Well, auntie. That was an entrance," said Mia while activating the privacy feature. A one-way transparent screen shimmered, and they were safe from prying eyes and ears. "May I introduce you to Frogger. He is an old mate and has a virgin HI3 to sell."

    Frogger waved awkwardly, and Flora introduced herself.

    "What is a HI3, dear? Nothing infectious, I hope. If its a virgin, it''s at least not a sexual-transmitted disease."

    Mia explained that HI3 stood for Hard-Mode Instance for three players. Virgin referred to the fact that nobody had discovered the instance before.

    In an unexplored dungeon, the buyer and their clanmates could fill the leaderboards. Every mini-master worth their salt could solo a Cradle HI3, and the weaker ones could group. There was a separate leaderboard for 1-player, 2-players, and 3-players and three more leaderboards for squeezed players. Those are high-level players who got their level reduced because of zone-limitations.

    Cradle-HI3s were one of the easiest ways to accumulate points for the clan ranking. Although virgins were rare, they benefited the clan more than ranks in regular instances.

    While Mia talked, Little with the other two hot on his heels, hammered against the barrier and pantomimed that he wanted to join.

    "They offered Frogger 1000 VirDos for the information. I believe we should match the price." Mia was unsure how she could hint Auntie should buy it without revealing the financial troubles of the clan in front of an outsider.

    "Sure, dear. I match the offer. Can I do anything for you to tilt the scale in our direction?" Auntie Flow asked Frogger.

    Mia was relieved that she was quick on the uptake. Her respect for the woman grew another notch.

    "We should let our competitors in to join the negotiation, sweety. Additionally, it''s not fair to hold the poor boy hostage." The auntie addressed her.

    Her elation sank. ''How could you be so naive at that age? You have to press every advantage life grants you!''

    But the auntie had the money, and Mia figured, enough experience to give her method a try. Therefore, Mia opened the screen without rebutting.

    Losing no time, they entered. The small booth got cramped.

    "Great move, Mia, snatching the dealer in the middle of the negotiation." Little said good-natured.

    "You have no right to accuse others of stealing. Frogger offered the HI3 to me, and you tried to snatch it," stated Mia, keeping emotions out of her voice.

    "Oh, yes, right." Little scratched his head and grinned sheepishly at her. Mia knew that he tried to use his weaponized cuteness. Nonetheless, she had a hard time resisting it.

    Finally, Frogger woke up from his stupor.

    "Sorry, guys! I just wanted to adventure a bit with Mia. The instance reminded me of one we had explored together."

    "How sweet of you, dear. Of course, we still insist on paying you for it, irrespective of your date." The grinning Flora turned to Mia and waggled her eyebrows.

    ''Calmness, please stay with me. Sanity, please stay with me.'' Mia chanted the familiar lines silently. She had to use them a lot in the company of the aunty.

    Auntie Flow closed the deal without further input from her, while Frogger promised the Dragon Descendants to consider them for his next discovery.

    All parties were satisfied except for Mia, who was pondering whether Auntie had used her like a honey trap. She was perfectly happy with her love life staying like it was, non-existent.

 72 72. Player versus Player - Lesson

    With the business concluded, the player remembered their manners. Cheerfully, Flora introduced herself.

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    "Hello. We''ve heard great things from Mia about you. It''s a pleasure to meet you.

    I''m Little Immortal. You may call me LI or Little. Last season, I was the top-ranked player on the kiddie server.

    The gloomy one is my friend SAF, and his specialty is mass PvP.

    Last but never least: The lovely lady''s name is Poppy. Initially, she ruled as PvE Healer/DD hybrid, but at the moment, she wipes the floor with us thanks to her S-rated elemental, Unflaze." Little pointed everyone out and stopped at the hip-high snowflake.

    Mia saw the glassy look on Auntie''s face and knew her AI''s explained the gaming terms to her. But she couldn''t wait to come clean and get rid of the audience.

    "I''m sorry, Auntie. I have told them a thing or two about you when they asked about the mods of my batticle. They all belong to top clans. The less they know, the less they can pass on. I recommend sending them out for our PvP workshop."

    Auntie Flow laughed.

    "Never mind, dear. Discretion is overrated." She turned to the crowd. "If you want to stay, you have to comply with my rules. For sharing my lesson with Mia, you have to pay one spell. Furthermore, you are forbidden to share any information with Tigressa Flamante until my duel with her."

    The teenies looked at each other.

    "If you want to learn a spell from everyone, it would take hours." Little said.

    "Nonsense dear, just show me the diagram, and we are good."

    Mia signaled with her eyes Auntie to shut up.

    "What''s up, honey? Is something wrong?"

    Mia lay her finger on her mouth. Of course, the attention of the group was on her, and pantomime was useless. But she didn''t trust her mouth to stay polite, so she kept it closed.

    "Oh, come on. Just casting can''t be such a big deal. I haven''t even revealed I could modify spells."

    Mia''s shoulders sagged, and she didn''t trust herself to even look at the old codger.

    ''Discretion is overrated my ass. She is a walking security risk.''

    "Ooops. Oh well, nevermind."

    "I wouldn''t want to miss it. I stay. What spells do you want?" Little agreed, and the others joined him eagerly.

    "I want the elemental mage spell Fire Breath. The ice version is fine, too."

    "I have it. Its called Frost Breath." Poppy exclaimed.

    Flora giggled. "Is the wood spell called Toxic Breath? If yes, I even know a few people in real life who possess it."

    The kids laughed. Mia was so used to the skill names she didn''t notice how funny some of them were.

    Gradually, she relaxed. The teenies hadn''t understood what Auntie meant when she said she could modify spells. They had probably thought of Morphs.

    "And I need more movement skills which don''t share cooldowns with the mage stuff, escape trap or power jump. I watched a few vids of Tigressa, and she is slippery."

    "I have that covered, too. But I won''t pay for all of you. Little and the SAF have Seven-Mile-Step while my spell''s name is Blink. Both share a cool down. Little has means to speed himself up, but I''m pretty sure he won''t trade it."

    "Right. Super-Blown is a hidden spell. When I teach it to you, I''ll lose it."

    When Mia saw Auntie''s face light up, she got a bad feeling.

    "Can we go somewhere with space to train?" Flora asked.

    Mia showed her the controls of the booth. Although she felt like a cheapskate to let auntie pay for the room expansion, she couldn''t bring herself to spend 2 VirDos when she was so close to affording an AI.

    While Flora, fiddled the controls, Frogger collected the nerve to speak up.

    "I know a few of the animal moves, mainly amphibians, and I Wish The Ground Would Swallow Me." He said.

    "I know teenage life is hard, but it will be better, I promise!" Flora looked at him with compassion.

    Mia suppressed an eye roll, and the teenies snickered.

    "It''s the name of the skill. It opens up a tunnel, and you stay underground for a few seconds." He clarified. "But thank you for the encouragement, I''m counting on it."

    Flora padded him on the shoulder. "That''s the spirit! What about the animal thing?"

    "It''s the beastmaster movement skill. You need at least 10 OV in the animal affinity of the species you want to imitate. Frog Leap shares a CD with power-jump, so it''s useless. Newt Feet enables you to walk walls. Gymno Gymnastics lets you do contorted movements. These were all skills of the amphibian affinity. I''ve got a few of the reptilian as well."

    "Fascinating! Unfortunately, I haven''t time to grind the affinity." Flora said. "To make matters worse, Tigressa Flamenta can make herself invisible. I can counter it with Dawn, but the spell has a long CD. Do you have skills against stealth?"

    "Sorry, most of the anti-stealth spells are tier 2. But stealth isn''t as scary as it seams. It only works for a few seconds, and if you stand in an AoE, the skill gets interrupted when they approach." Mia said.

    "I''ve got Astral Vision. But it''s only effective if your skill is higher than the opponent''s skill." Poppy added. "By the way, Dawn won''t work in single matches. Only spells with CDs up to 10 minutes are allowed. Or you morph it down."

    "But what about your elemental, dear? Summon has 25 min CD. And what means morphing it down?"

    "I conjure Unfaze before entering the arena. When he dies, I can''t resummon him. You don''t know about morphs?" Poppy looked confused.

    "The word Morph comes from Modifying Graph" Mia started to talk fast to distract Poppy.

    The teenagers explained standardized modifications to skills existed. You could change spell-attributes with them like reducing or increasing cast-time, secondary effect, cooldown, or mana cost.

    Finally, Flora selected the spells from everybody:

    Frost Breath from Poppy, Morph: Cooldown down; Mana up; from SAF, 7-Mile-Step from Little, and I Wish The Ground Would Swallow Me from Frogger.

    Now, the PvP lesson could begin.

    "Alright. My first problem is I don''t know what loadout I should pack. I have six nocks and 30 OV mana-regen naked. I want my octopussy and my toaster. They cost 10 mr combined." Flora fetched a 1x1x1,2m big toaster on legs out of her inventory. Then four double-barreled turrets and a mech-suit followed. "The turrets are cheap, only 1 mr. One of them is for healing, and the other is for ouch."

    Only now, Mia discovered, respectively two turrets were connected.

    "Wait. 4 barrels and just one mana-regen that can''t be." Mia protested.

    "I''ve integrated generators."

    "Even if they only do the base skill damage of 10 and have a CD of whatever, you got 40 damage with the initial salvo. Take that times six and you instakill everyone I know or at least below A-league," SAF frowned, while the others gaped.

    "I agree partially. Only someone very fast could cast a skill, but you forgot about factors like environment, accuracy, and armor."

    "My batticle would suffer, but I would survive."

    "I could hide behind my elemental."

    "Yes, and Tigressa behind her tiger. My AI thinks the tiger has more than 240 HP. Furthermore, I don''t understand your math. Every turret has rapid-fire as a skill, but only base damage of 3. Hence we are speaking about 3 base damage * 4 barrels *6 nocks = 72 damage per salvo. Two salvos per second are 144. Rapid Fire lasts 5 seconds. Therefore we got 720 damage. And only if I and my turrets survive the 5 seconds."

    "You can''t just count the base damage. SAF thought about a skill like power-shot, sure-fire, or something like that. It''s base damage + attributes + base skill damage + corresponding attributes + mojo and multiplied by more mojo... has anyone a measure dummy?" Mia gave up explaining the damage formula.

    Little obliged and fetched a mannequin from his inventory. Over its head, it displayed numbers and graphs.

    First, they tested one turret, then all six.

    They had forgotten you could activate just one Built-In skill at a time, but the initial volley without any enhancement was still 120 damage.

    "With the CD of 2 seconds for the laser beams, we are by 60 DPS. 60 DPS auto-hit! And don''t forget we haven''t added any actions by the auntie. She can drink tea while watching." Little pondered. "Monstrous... my max DPS is higher, but I have to work up to it and can sustain it only a few seconds."

    "I say forget about the rest of your gadgets, just go with six of those monsters," SAF suggested.

    "But you don''t even know what the others are capable of!" Flora protested. "My octopussy has four similar lasers, and Aitoshuri can activate Rapid Fire herself. So it''s definitely better than a turret. And I have to use the toaster because the duel is about who toasts better."

    Auntie Flow explained to them that the toaster spat sheets with charged rune-schemes.

    ''Calmness, please stay with me. Sanity, please stay with me.'' Mia had to chant again. The little robot packed 100 boards of nearly a square-meter. That was enough to cover most of the floor of the Clan Riverstone arena!

    "I''d say it''s worth for the psychological damage." Poppy looked as horrified as Mia felt. "But I wouldn''t take the toaster to regular PvP. Too many arenas have special designs, like Slope: The sheets would slide to the foot of the slope or Highrise Building Lot: there is no floor, only rails and a few platforms."

    "Alright, so we have the octopussy and the toaster and four turret-traps. But shouldn''t I take at least one healing turret with me?"

    "No, it''s better to go all out," SAF said.

    "I beg to differ. A bit of flexibility can save you."

    Mia and Little agreed more with SAF, while Frogger sided with Poppy. The teenager discussed the issue, while Auntie Flow nodded to everything they said.

    Smiling, she interrupted the squabbling teens.

    "I see the problem. Many matters have a skill dependent solution. I call them spiral issues because you walk on a spiral as your expertise grows. Imagine the X-Axis as the rising proficiency, and the Y-Axis at -1 ''don''t use maneuver'' at 1 ''use maneuver''. The graph is a sinus curve. That''s a wave between -1 and 1."

    The teens had question marks on their faces.

    "An example is when to use the handbrake for taking turns while driving. Please don''t use them at the beginner level, dears, just slow down. When you get a bit more proficient, you can use the handbrake to drift. If you get even more skilled, you don''t need the handbrake anymore. Now you can take the turn at max speed. In the end, you can judge which turns you can take with which method."

    SAF shrugged unconvinced, but Mia, Frogger, and Little nodded thoughtfully and Poppy enthusiastically.

    "Should I divide my mana-reg evenly between all gadgets?"

    Another debate took place. The party who argued for putting it all in the octopussy won.

    Then, Mia and her colleagues piled helpful advice on Auntie Flow: When to use what potions, using the terrain to your advantage and battle awareness.

    On some topics, their opinion differed.

    A heated discussion erupted about what to do when you don''t know what action to take. The opinions ranged from SAFs ''nothing'' over ''analyze for the next match'' and ''hide'' to Poppies ''anything that comes to your mind as fast as possible.''

    At last, they piled on information on what to look out for when facing rangers or beastmasters.

    When Auntie Flow didn''t say anything for several minutes and just sat there with glassy eyes, Mia put a stop on the barrage.

    "I believe Auntie Flow is ready for her first match."

 73 73. Player versus Player - Matches

    Flora''s head rang from all the explanations, and she was more confused than enlightened. Those teenagers had too much energy and knew way too many gaming terms!

    But you couldn''t expect too many enlightenments in one day. In the morning, she had completed the last of Robby''s recommended scenarios. Meditating on a mountain top, she gained awareness of her inner mana network.

    It seemed she had maxed out her quota of comprehension.

    Packing the Counterflow mech-suit in her inventory, she pondered what she should wear over her mana regen outfit. She still had the Ice-Masters body armor, so she slipped it on.

    The mini-masters told her she had to take out all the equipment she wanted to use in the PvP antechamber. There she could still access her inventory, but Flora felt better if she assembled everything now. She wanted to make sure they had nothing forgotten.

    The two focuses were in their holsters, and she filled the quick access slots with mana potions, health potions, minor potions of fire resistance, underwater breathing, ice traps, and explosion traps.

    Flora decided against the Potion-Guzzler for the first try but kept her filled mana-battery linked.

    4 MR for the four turret-traps (+8 Generators per tt).

    5 MR for the trap toaster (+4 Generators).

    31 MR for the octopussy.

    Aitoshuri beeped satisfied, while Aidan, who controlled the toaster, promised to do his best.

    The interface for the arena selection reminded her of the Seven-Masters Dojo Ring-Time but was much more complicated. She could even select against which classes she wished to fight. Of course, she chose some of Ressa''s classes: Marksmen, Fireshot, Hunter, Gun-Fu, and Beastmaster. The other configurations like Level Range: 1-5 and Random Environment, she left untouched.

    As soon as she pressed the ''Match''-Button, a notification popped up: an opponent was ready.

    Flora ported in the antechamber. On her HUD ticked a 30-sec count down. The room had three stone walls and one open wall with a transparent shield. She could look through it in the colosseum shaped arena.

    On the opposite side of the round stadium, she saw another shimmering shield. The audience benches were empty except for a group of familiar teenies.

    Flora checked her equipment on last time.

    "Are you ready, sweeties?"

    "Yes, Milady!"

    "Beep!"

    Flora readied herself to jump out of the room. When the timer reached its end, her sight got blurry for a second.

    Suddenly, she stood in the middle of the arena, staring at the sand.

    Her mind had focused on jumping to such an extent it had to readjust when it couldn''t execute the plunge.

    "Congratulation, you won the first round." A female voice read the message.

    Flora found herself back in the antechamber without having seen her opponent.

    "Oh well, good job, everyone."

    The timer ticked again down from 30 seconds, which made Flora sigh.

    "Aidan, we have to ask what other people do during waiting. I don''t want to waste any moment."

    This time, Flora was ready for the port. Her adversary wore shabby full body armor and held a sword.

    Flora cast Acid Bolt, but 20 laserbeams hit the poor guy before the spell left her hand.

    "Congratulation, you won the second round and the match," said the same voice.

    "Thank you, dear. Who are you?"

    "My name is Aithena. I''m the AI responsible for the Arena."

    "Nice to meet you."

    "Do you want to enter the B-League? Your fighting prowess exceeds the C/unranked-League."

    "Yes." Flora snorted. "I don''t know about me, but my robots exceed the B-League."

    Aithena ported Flora back to the teenager filled booth in the Mini-Masters Lounge.

    "Good fight, Auntie," Mia said perfunctorily.

    Waving her comment away, Flora asked how to use the 30 seconds waiting time. Her mini-teachers informed her she could buff while in the antechamber.

    In the next round, Flora found herself in the same chamber, but the arena was different. It reminded her of a colosseum, but bigger. Antique columns, some of them toppled, broke up the line of sight.

    Flora used the wait to memorize the layout. Ten seconds before the timer ran out, Flora cast Energy Shield.

    When she got ported into the arena, she looked around, but no enemy was in sight.

    Carefully, Flora inched closer to the center. The turrets followed her on their small wheels. They couldn''t pass patches with debris, much less fallen columns. Therefore Flora had to move around them.

    For a moment, Flora considered emulating SWAT-teams from the movies and press her back on the corner, before taking a glance and rounding it. But she didn''t know whether the movies were right. She definitely would feel silly. Nothing in her life had her prepared for a battlefield.

    Aito extended a tentacle around a corner. Only now, Flora remembered she had given Aito sensors in the tips for this situation. The smart AI had even thought of coloring herself in the palette of the colosseum.

    Following her octopus, Flora walked on. The turrets trailed her, and Aidan took the rear.

    She would have preferred the guns in front of her, but she had stinted on the programming. They could just follow her and shoot at anything hostile. The issue wandered on the ToDo-List.

    Flora strolled around, refreshing her shield now and then, while Aidan shot some traps randomly.

    "Boring."

    "Beep."

    "Attention players! The arena will reduce size in 10 seconds!" Aithena announced.

    The area on the rim turned orange, but Flora was a bit away from it.

    Finally, a shot hit Flora''s shield. While Aito shot back, Flora tried to cast a spell in the direction of the assault, but it fizzled out.

    "They''re out of range, Milady."

    "Color my range purple and the range of the turrets blue on my HUD," Flora instructed while running after the shooting Aito.

    Circles appeared on her display.

    "Burned toast and stale jam! Why is my range so short?"

    The purple circle''s radius was ten meters smaller than the blues''.

    "Laser has a range of 30 meters, magic bolts of 15 meters, Milady."

    Flora hopped on the toppled column the marksperson had used as cover.

    Another shot hit her shield, destroying it. Octopussy and Flora pursued.

    "Milady, the turrets are stuck."

    "Ignore it, but put a trap on the positions the shots originated."

    !

    Flora jumped in the air to survey the surroundings. She found the fleeing opponent.

    Aito!

    !

    A tide carried Flora ten meters forward. After hopping over another column, she spotted the enemy. He was male and wore green armor and a rifle.

    Unfortunately, he was far out of her spell range and still fleeing, but Flora and Aito''s speed exceeded his.

    Flora jumped over a yellow glowing patch of earth on instinct. As she landed, her brain supplied the information: Traps glowed like this.

    When Aito reached firing distance, Flora refreshed her shield. She was ready to rain toasters on the boor!

    Meanwhile, Aito landed three consecutive head-shots.

    The round was over before she gained on him. The pent up aggression turned into frustration.

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    "I need a gun! And better software!"

    Flora spent the next 30 seconds browsing the marketplace and bookmarked promising software suites.

    "We''ll take a running start. Aidan, trap the hiding spots and ignore the turrets."

    As soon as she arrived, Flora jumped on the next fallen column and used it as a springboard.

    !

    She found the opponent on his way to a cover.

    "Aito, take the right. I''ll flank him from the left."

    Aito!

    A column blocked the turrets again, but the females approached the location fast.

    Thanks to her superior range, Aito attacked first.

    The guy turned to her and shot his rifle. Then, he executed a skill that made him fly backward.

    The skill pushed him right into Flora''s range.

    !

    The water sphere smashing into his back incited him to yelp. He glanced around his shoulder, which gave Aito enough time to catch up.

    Pelted by Aito and Flora from two directions, he dove to the third and vanished.

    Remembering Mia''s advice about stealth, Flora cast Acid Rain on the spot. His drenched figure reappeared, and Aito rapid-fired him to death.

    "Congratulation, you won the second round and the match," said Aithena. "Do you want to enter the A-League? Your fighting prowess exceeds the B-League."

    "Sure, Aithena."

    Back in the Mini-Masters Lounge, the teenies ridiculed her robots. Flora had no excuses. She could only shrug and buy new software.

    The marketplace offered a B-rated suite, which included all the movement functions Flora hoped for and a few more: Following (Friends and Enemies), Patrolling, Guarding a spot, automatic obstacle evasion, and moving to places.

    The behavior functions were interesting as well. You could customize when they used their skills depending on the health of the opponents or time into the fight.

    For the moment, Flora left the factory setting untouched. She delegated the configuration and adjustments on the field to Aidan.

    Flora spent the next fights shredding her opponents.

    The teenagers lost interest and busied themselves with their own matches.

    Even Flora found the process tedious. She spent more time in the antechamber than in the Arena. The opponents died too fast for her to learn anything.

    She substituted the turrets for the Ivy-League mech suit and transferred all the extra mana-reg from the octopus to it. Aito beeped sadly, but Flora insisted.

    Straightaway, the fights got more exciting. Though they were still shorter than the waiting time, Flora could test spell combinations and experience how the players reacted to them.

    It took seven fights until the first player, a female beastmaster with a cougar pet, walked into one of Aidan''s traps. The explosion-trap flung the poor girl in the air, and Aito shredded her before she hit the ground. Her cougar pounced on Flora and knocked her down.

    Flora was excited about it. From the day Robby had told her grappling was unsuited for many opponents, she wanted to try it out. In the Jiu-Jitsu lessons, she fantasized about wrestlings with tigers and dragons.

    The attack from the pet gave her the chance to test her skills on her first non-human subject.

    Wrapping her legs around the cougar, she started to squeeze. Aito had never stopped firing. Even Aidan shot an ice-trap at them.

    It cut the adventure short, but Flora had fun.

    A few hours into her PvP session, Flora got a message from System.

    "Congratulations on your first week in the Cetviwos.

    You received your rating: B.

    From now on, every week, in which you don''t level, will reduce your trained attributes, affinities, abilities, and skills."

    Flora''s face fell.

    "What? Only B! I have to admit, I expected more. Of course, I''m a newbie, but I exerted myself. Am I conceited?" Flora rambled.

    "No, Milady. It is just your global rating. This rating relates you to all players, even the level 250. Your level rating, comparing you to other level-one players, is higher." Aidan showed her the tiny globe in the corner of the display. Flora changed it to a level-specific rating.

    "S! Yes! Much better! But the clan membership requires an A rating. Which of those two has to be A?"

    "Either is fine. On the low levels, the level rating is easier to accomplish. If you reach a high level, it sinks because the system compares you to the other avid players. Then, your global rating will be better. The good news is the global rating is highly unlikely to sink. Because you reached a B-rating even without any dungeons conquered, lands explored, realms built, or group activities, it is practically guaranteed you will attain an A rating in no time."

    Flora was mollified. Now, she was interested in the rating of her companions. She hadn''t noticed the little world or level icon before and judged some things Mia had said as a bit arrogant, with her only having an A rating.

    Nickname: Mia MyMio

    Level: 1

    Class: Tank Expert

    Clan: Riverstones

    Rating: A (global)

    Looking at it with her new knowledge, Flora was more impressed. An A-rating even though she was only level one was nothing to scoff at.

    All the teens displayed only their global ranking, and it was A in every case.

    When Flora asked about it, they said they don''t like people they don''t know to pester them about assistance or being friends.

    Flora knew what they meant. She received a few sudden friend requests as well when people noticed that she was a champion.

 74 Chapter 74. Robo-Melee - The Arena

    Flora noticed all the teenies belonged to clans - Aidan assured her top-clans - except for the green-haired kid.

    Nickname: Frogger

    Level: 1

    Class: Druid

    Clan: none

    Rating: A (global)

    "Frogger, why haven''t you joined a clan?"

    "I spend all my time in remote swamps. To get from there to civilization takes several hours. I don''t have time for forced activities. For a while, I was in a social clan, but the chat got on my nerves."

    "I feel you! I disabled the chat feature on my HUD. But what things do I have to for the clan?" Flora looked at Mia for an explanation.

    "Not in our clan. At the moment, only the employes and some players who are tempted by the rewards and contribution points carry out clan missions. But I suggested to RadGlow to make clan activities obligatory in the friends and family section, but he said the taxes cover them."

    "The taxes are mean! And I''m glad nobody forces me to run around on errands." Flora agreed, but she told Aidan to put the issue on her todo list. For her son, she would play errand-girl. It''s part of the job description of being a mother.

    "Actually, the Riverstones might be a great choice for you, Frogger. We are looking for explorers." Mia added. "With the contribution points, you can buy expert help. People are willing to travel a few hours if they get paid for it."

    Frogger scratched his head and said he would think about it, but then Mia bullied him into promising to make an appointment with Robby.

    In the few minutes between her matches, Flora got a picture of the green-haired boy. He was like herself in many ways: he didn''t like anything that derailed him from his passion, in his case amphibians.

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    "You can get in the associates'' section and don''t even pay the evil taxes; no social interaction required, nor commitments. And if you don''t like the marketplace or auction house, you can send me your tier 1 or higher materials. I''d pay a fair price for it. If you join the clan, I''ll even link you to my house security system. You could use my S-call printer without saying hello."

    These arguments tipped him over to call Robby.

    Flora grinned at Mia and winked.

    From the Mini-Masters Lounge, Flora ported to the Seven Masters Dojo.

    Today, the advancement test to graduate Wing Tsu Beginner-2 was on the agenda.

    Flora was very familiar with the first subject of the test, the Forms. They had three parts, but she only had to perform two of them for the examination.

    This time, she aced the tournament. The triple regeneration effect under 30% HP helped.

    Incidentally, Rubina Rubin, the middleaged woman she fought against in the last test, was her opponent again in round 4. But now Flora defeated her, albeit narrowly, and entered the finals.

    A muscular two-meter tall giant won the other position.

    In the match, Flora learned a hard lesson about why reach is essential in the striking arts.

    After losing the final round, Flora was still in good spirits and ready to fight a bit longer.

    Therefore she skipped the sixth Jiu-Jitsu lesson and went straight to the examination.

    She conquered enough opponents to pass the test but got choked out in round three.

    Proudly, she pinned the two beginner-2 badges on her sash.

    "Not bad for a granny, not bad at all."

    In the evening, she lay with a cocktail in hand on a recliner in Deriga''s workshop. While Aito and Aidan battled, she watched videos about the Robo-Melee and PvP.

    Now and then, she used her robot skills and followed the fight, but mostly she concentrated on the TV-screen and discussing strategies with her AI''s.

    Sometimes, they simulated situations from the videos, emulating maneuvers, or developing counters.

    The next day, Flora woke up eager and ready to debut in the arena of steel, more steel, a bit of plastic, and grease.

    But it was still too early. Hence, she started the day with a jog around Trick Beach, sorting through her mails and admiring her stats.

    Last night, Aidan focused on raising Astral Vision. The skill was critical for spotting hidden opponents because you could see the mana they emitted. Similar to Detect Traps, the power permanently activated in a weaker version when it reached level 200. Flora permitted to level it with priority, and it had reached level 84.

    If only every spell leveled as easy as spells without cooldown!

    As preparation for the Robo-Melee, Aidan had increased the relevant skills to at least level 50. Now, they could crit.

    Scanning the abilities, Flora was dissatisfied with her progress in the crafts. Although she crafted every day, Athletics and maybe even Sprinting would soon overtake them. Two bodies running during her sleep time raked in the hours of training. She had to find a way to level crafting while asleep.

    Finally, the time for the Robo-Melee arrived, and Flora ported to the stadium on Panem et Ludis.

    The building resembled a huge kneeling robot-knight in full armor.

    His sword stuck in the earth. At the lower end of the blade was the main entrance. The pommel contained an observation deck and restaurant.

    After Flora checked in and fetched another quest for the Robo-Melee, this time from Aithena, she found out the arenas resided in the body of the knight.

    Aidan guided her into a humongous hall.

    The smell of grease and burnt plastique stimulated Flora''s nostrils, and the sounds of iron scraping on iron were music to her ears. A big smile blossomed on Flora''s face. Tough she could do without the masses of players, she wanted to stay here forever!

    Octagons with ongoing battles filled the floor. The players walked between the rings or sat in the stands and galleries lining the walls.

    Flora watched a five-meter tall steel ogre smash a bug as big as a mini-van. In a different octagon, a futuristic robot giant hacked off the arm of a steampunk titan.

    "This doesn''t look at all like the battles in the videos. Besides, those guys are a good ten times as heavy as my cute Blade-Roller."

    Aidan guided her to a corridor on the other side of the room.

    First, the hallway was packed with people as well, but the farther she walked, the emptier it got. She passed gates with pictures of robots as big as cars, then quad-bikes, then scooters. At last, she reached the end of the corridor.

    The ceiling had grown progressively lower, and the light dingier. Flora was the only human aiming for the final door depicting a spinner drone. Thankfully, Aitoshuri, in octopus-form, stayed by her side. Otherwise, the situation would be too spooky for Flora''s tastes.

    Zone Information

    Name: The Giant Crank

    Sub-Zone: Robo-Melee - Room 1

    Color: Yellow

    Defeat

    Defeat: Defeat

    Cornered: 5 min

    Drop: 0,00%

    Restrictions:

    All mana-skills exept for Commands and Arts locked

    Level Cap: 25

    Automated Reputation Losses

    Impeding the matches: - 3 Rep

    Automated Reputation Gains

    Win a round: + 3 Rep

    After entering the room, Flora oriented herself.

    The field in the center dominated the room. Already, drones in laser cages filled the rim.

    People mingled around the waist-high barrier of the arena. Flora was uncharacteristically happy to see them. Not only because of the empty corridor but of their attire: goggles and gizmos, mech-suits and machinery bestrode the fashion.

    In a shabby booth in the corner of the room, Flora found someone official looking. The fire man took Aidan''s jack and walked with Flora to the arena.

    Inside, her poor Blade-Roller sat in a cage that looked like a kernel out of light. Flora had to stay behind the boundary in her designated place.

    While the red-skinned official inserted Aidan''s jack into the blade roller, he explained the rules to Flora.

    Flora listened only with half an ear. Of course, she had studied them beforehand¡ªno cheating, no interference, only one controller per robot. The barrier between the arena and players ensured only drone and robot technology skills reaching the field. An additional shield between the contestants prevented foul play.

    "Well, the player shield just broke down. We are working on it, but I wouldn''t bet on it running in the first round." Before Flora''s brain had registered the situation differed from her master plan, the guy left with a mumbled, "Good luck, you''ll need it."

    "Aidan, please elaborate." Flora''s inner voice was an octave higher than usual. "That means everybody can attack us, right?"

    "Yes, Milady. We are in a yellow zone, which means we can choose whether we engage in fights. But because we participate in the Robo-Melee, we will be flagged as combatants. Therefore anybody can attack us."

    Flora wasted no second changing into the Ivy-League mech-suit.

    On the floor was a 2x2m patch marked where usually the shield would go up.

    She fetched two trap-turrets from her inventory. The four 1x1x1 meter blocks covered the whole floor. Sitting on top of the cubes between the barrels, Flora eyed her neighbors with suspicion.

    To her right stood a tall man in a checkered suit. First, Flora thought he was overweight, but then she noticed his hands weren''t in his pockets but in his belly.

    Name: Techno Fat-Suit

    Type: Hybrid Mech-Suit / Drone-Controller

    Description: Hiding behind an inconspicuous exterior, the suit offers state of the art technology.

    Effect: + 2 OV to drone driving

    Tier: 1

    Rating: A

    Flora raised her eyebrows.

    "I''m not the enemy, Ma''am. Your turrets are making me nervous. Please point them in another direction." He stated when he noticed her staring.

    Readjusting the turrets, Flora nodded, but she didn''t believe him. His caged drone looked like a freshly cut off koala bear head. What kind of person would behead a cute animal?

    Flora memorized his name "InsertMeme Here" to recalibrate the turrets onto him if the occasion arose.

    "I''m no threat either! I promise!" yelped her neighbor on the left when the barrels moved in his direction.

    Eduardo Makinado looked Southeast Asian and wore a blue hoodie. His drone featured a thick spear.

    "Alright. For now, I face them backward. But don''t think I won''t retaliate if you two try any shenanigans."

    "Beep!" Aito added menacingly. She had colored the hull of the octopus in the same acid green as Flora''s mech-suit but added a pink skulls and bones pattern. She even managed to glare despite the heart-shaped eyes. It helped that they were lasers.

    After her neighbors were sufficiently cowed, Flora scanned the rest of the competition.

    Hundreds of machines lined the arena wall.

    Most drones were the usual spinner, flipper, wedge, rammer, and overhead smasher. Some were simple, while others followed a theme like a firefighter truck which ladder had very sharp ends.

    But she also spotted robots who didn''t look like they could hurt anyone like a cuckoo clock or a book with a worm on top. She flagged them as risky and told Aidan to avoid them until they knew their mode of attack.

    Beeping rapidly, Aito pointed out a flying drone just a few meters away, looking like a jellyfish.

    "Is it dangerous?"

    After a bit of guessing, Flora had to laugh. Aitoshuri wanted Aidan to kill it as soon as possible because she wanted to be the only tentacled machine in the room.

    Without using Identify, Flora couldn''t distinguish which were robots with an AI or which were drones, remote-controlled by players. She took the time to check the machines close to her out because she figured the drone drivers had no free hands to cause trouble.

    Unfortunately, many of the contestants had friends with them. On the visitor stands, three rows of benches on a platform, sat a few people, too. Flora''s area resided in the spell range of them.

    Shortly before the start of the Melee, Flora ate rabbit smores to buff her agility, regenerated the pools, and donned the potion guzzler.

    With her scepter in hand, she was ready for battle.

 75 75. Robo-Melee - Battle Royal Part 1

    The announcer''s soprano voice sounded over the chatter of the waiting crowd.

    \"Welcome, to the weekly Robo-Melee Battle Royal in the baby division, Gentleladys and Gentlemen! My name is Tamara OneUpU, and I will be your host today.

    Let me tell you; we are expecting some action! The personal shields won''t work again, and my boss told me to say to you, KEEP IT CLEAN.\" Tamara laughed. It was wild and free belly laughter. \"I say *Bleep* it! Everything is fair in love and Robo-Melee!\"

    The crowd cheered and hooted while Flora and a few others groaned.

    With just these few sentences, the atmosphere shifted from some nerds admiring robots to a mob out for blood.

    \"I''m not going to introduce you or your bots. Most of you will soon be waiting in the loser''s corner, and your bot will be scrap metal. I''m not wasting my time with duds.\"

    Flora joined the crowd and whistled in the way German''s do when the referee in a football game messed up.

    \"Let''s get the massacre started! Three! Two! One! Destroy!\"

    The lights in the room went wild. Then the spotlights focused on the arena.

    Simultaneously, the cages around the drones vanished. The noises of the up powering machines competed with the cheering people. Hundreds of LEDs adorning the robots started blinking in all the colors of the rainbow.

    Overwhelmed by the attacks on her sensory systems, Flora closed her eyes and took deep breaths.

    Aidan pinged her for Human-Machine Connection, and she complied.

    After a few moments, Flora opened her eyes slowly.

    The situation escalated. Not only the machines emitted sounds and lights, but the audience had also joined.

    Like trigger-happy wild west residents, they shot their guns in the air or at other contestants.

    A big brawl overtook the flank of the ring to Flora''s left. The drones idled while their owners slugged it out. Opportunists rolled over and shredded the helpless machines.

    Directly under Flora''s nose, the Blade-Roller Extreme fought with Grabber Driver, a drone with two robot arms with spinning hands.

    Just now, it had caught a spinner drone and hurled it at Aidan. The Blade-Roller span away, slicing the projectile in the process.

    On the back of the Grabber, two more spinners chipped away its durability. While it grabbed one of them, Eduardo joint the fight. His drone launched its spear at the Grabber.

    Out of nowhere, the koala head fell from the sky. Its lower parts had transformed into what Flora only could describe as a giant butt.

    WHAM!

    The butt smashed into the Grabber and the surrounding spinners. Side thrusters in the form of stubby koala arms ensured the Grabber had a hard time freeing itself from the bottom.

    Eduardo''s spear was stuck, as well. The creaking cranks of the drone tried to haul it in, but the higher mass of the butt-pile won out.

    Aidan jumped between the opponents and severed the rope connecting the spear to Eduardo''s drone. Disarmed, it fell victim to the incoming vultures.

    Meanwhile, Aidan had joined the pile. Sitting on the top of the koala head, he sawed on its thrusters.

    \"Incoming spider drone from the right, Milady. Probably originating from InsertMeme Here.\"

    \"Aito, kill it as soon as it breaches my area.\" A plasma slug grazed Flora''s shoulder. \"Retaliate to everybody who attacks me, ignore stray shots.\"

    The octopus has mounted one of the spotlights. It blended into the wall, invisible to casual observers. From above, it overviewed the fights and had a clear line of sight to Flora''s area.

    Flora looked for the spider drone, but couldn''t find it until her AIs highlighted it. Pointing at it, she glared at InsertMeme.

    The operator shrugged and grinned.

    A cloud of darts hit Flora. An electronic porcupine next to him had attacked.

    The mech-suite stemmed most of the darts, but two struck Flora''s neck.

    Poisoned: Crippling Poison: - 2x1 HP/sec, - 2 Physical Micro-Control. Remaining time: 30 sec.

    The next ping came from Aidan, and Flora approved of it wholeheartedly.

    Aidan tore into the koala head, avenging his Lady.

    Of course, Aitoshuri didn''t stay idle. She targeted a noggin as well, InsertMeme''s.

    The AIs attacks destroyed property and owner.

    Ignoring the poison, Flora cheered.

    Without the koala''s thrusters to counteract, the Grabber flung the butt away. The Blade-Runner sat still on top of it and soared through the air.

    Full of glee, Aito beeped because she spotted the jellyfish near Aidan''s flight path.

    Obliging his colleague, the Blade-Roller catapulted to the flying fish. It cut four of its tentacles, but sparks enveloped the Blade-Roller as well.

    !

    Even before the robot hit the ground, Flora cast the spell. She felt through her nock-link that the electricity attack had stunned the robot and disabled Aidan''s control over it.

    The Blade-Roller smashed into the floor and slid into the next opponent, which resembled a vacuum cleaner.

    \"Disengage. We will recuperate.\" Flora wanted to avoid destroying household appliances.

    While sipping a health potion and still channeling the healing command, Flora surveyed the arena.

    More than half of the machines had turned into scrap metal. Between the wreckage, tarnished drones were still battling it out.

    The fighting outside the arena barrier had intensified. Flora''s turrets shot without a pause. No enemy dared to approach her, but now and then, a shot flitted by. Whether it hit or missed, Flora didn''t care. Her focus was on the proceedings inside the arena. She knew she could leave the outside in Aito''s capable tentacles.

    The only action she took was repairing the mech-suit after the Blade-Roller reached 90% HP.

    \"Ready for the next bout, Aidan?\"

    \"Yes, Milady!\"

    Looking for another victim, Flora found a peculiar scene. A ball with helicopter blades protruding from the equator attacked a bunny drone. First, the steel bunny was winning, but then it froze, and the blades mowed it down.

    Flora''s eyes followed the ball to the next opponent, and the same happened.

    Name: Copter Comet

    Owner: Chooper Cutsug

    Aito highlighted the owner. He was a big blond guy surrounded by friends. His muscles bulged under his Daredevil T-Shirt to such a degree Flora doubted he could wipe his butt without help.

    Nick-Name: Chooper Cutsug

    Clan: Badmove

    Level: 13

    Rating: A

    A girl next to him pointed in the arena, and then two of the group left.

    The Copter Comet rolled to the area and attacked a sturdy drone with a spatula-like flipper in the front.

    Retaliating, it flipped the ball to the opposing side of the drone, where a thorn was attached.

    Name: Flippy Gu¨ºpe

    Owner: Chocolatine Lyc¨¦e

    \"Aidan, attack Copter. Aito, find Chocolatine.\"

    The woman stood a few meters to Flora''s left. She had a brown bob and held a controller in her hand.

    Two familiar guys closed in on her. Chooper''s friends had arrived.

    Flora burned with rage. She had speculated the sudden victories of Chooper involved foul-play, but a part of her hadn''t wanted to believe it.

    For a moment, she contemplated whether she should wait until they start messing with Chocolatine. She had no proof of any wrongdoings yet. But then one of the guys went invisible, and that removed any lingering doubts.

    \"Kill them!\"

    Aito opened fire. Flora''s AI wasn''t playing around; she activated Rapid Fire right from the start.

    Her first shot made the invisible guy reappear. Her second shot hit him right between the eyes.

    As Aito fired her third shot, Flora used the plasma-sword-focus'' lightning cantrip on the other guy.

    The spark flew out of the sword, electrifying him. Then it sprang over to his friend. The young man had no health left and disappeared.

    Aito switched marks and rained beams on Flora''s initial target, killing him with a headshot. The little octopus aim was excellent, Flora noticed proudly.

    Chocolatine was still engrossed in the Robo-Melee, not noticing the massacre around her.

    Satisfied, Flora grinned.

    Meanwhile, Aidan had harassed the Copter Comet and prevented him from fleeing while Flippy Gu¨ºpe stung and flipped him.

    When Flora shifted her concentration back, the rotor blades of the Comet were broken, and his formerly shiny globe dented.

    The Blade-Roller had battle scars as well, so Flora initiated another round of healing.

    When the Comet tried to wobble away, Aidan clipped him, and Chocolatine arrived from behind. Employing three different saws, Aidan pushed the drone on Flippy''s spatula.

    Wedged between chainsaws, the spatula, and the Flippy, the Copter Comet had no chance to last.

    After his lights went out, Flippy threw him away and turned with her thorn to the Blade-Roller.

    \"This is how you repay me saving you?\" Flora snorted. Of course, Chocolatine''s actions were perfectly alright with Flora. Killing robots was the name of the game. Even InsertMeme''s attack on the outside hadn''t irked her, because it was one against one.

    But to send your friends? Coward!

    Flora looked over to Chooper Cutsug, and her eyes met the gaze of his female spotter.

    \"Looks like we''ve been found out. Notify me when the henchmen can leave the losers'' corner. Aito, stay sharp.\"

    After a short check of her bars, Flora swallowed another health potion. Grease with life''s Blood and the stray shots had decreased half of her health-bar. But her mana-bar looked fresh with only the top missing.

    \"Time to use more skills.\"

    A ball with thrusters and feet like a kangaroo jumped on the Flippy, joining the fight.

    The three machines battled it out; temporary alliances were made and broken. Metal clashed with metal until only one robot was able to move.

    The three versus three had ended with the Blade-Runner winning.

    No pause for the wickedly awesome; a new opponent had found the Blade-Runner.

    The cuckoo clock rolled on tank treads in front of the Blade-Roller.

    \"Dodge Aidan!\"

    The clock chimed. Out of a door on the clock face, a mini-beer-glass appeared and dumped its content on the spot Aidan just had vacated. The liquid bubbled on the floor.

    \"Acid!\"

    The Blade Roller attacked the flank of the Cuckoo Clunker. It looked wooden and had drinking and girl-chasing soldiers carved on it. But the saws only produced sparks.

    \"What kind of material is this?\" asked Flora, intrigued. \"Maybe the crafter had refined it? I will definitely refine the next robot. A pity, I learned about the technique after completing the Blade-Roller.\"

    Aidan pinged, and Flora cast \"Wheel of Steel.\"

    The skill originated from the driver class. It transformed regular wheels into weapons. The combination of Robot Armor and Wheels of Steel turned the Blade-Roller''s saws into indestructible armaments.

    Aidan hopped on the roof of the drone. His next attack looked more effective: gashes appeared.

    The Cuckoo Clunker accelerate abruptly, and the Blade-Roller tumbled from its roof.

    !

    \"Duck, Milady!\"

    Flora flattened herself. A bullet hit the top of the potion guzzler and shattered some vials. A second one flew over her head.

    Lying on the Turret-Traps, she activated the shield of the multi-tool-scepter. Only then she dared to take a peek.

    Chooper Cugsug and at least three of his friends ran into Flora''s direction while firing their weapons. Amongst them were two batticles and a mech-suit.

    \"You''ve chosen the wrong clan to cross, bitch!\" The mech-suit user yelled.

    The other audience members cleared the path for them. Like scared mice, they scampered in all directions. Out of the corner of her eye, Flora spotted InsertMeme Here, ducking behind a bench.

    \"Help me, and it won''t be to your disadvantage.\" Flora messaged him attached to a party invite.

    \"I want the blueprints of the octopussy.\"

    \"Deal.\"

    The turrets unleashed a barrage, while Aito concentrated her fire on Chooper.

    Flora rolled behind the towers and emptied her quick-access slot of traps.

    \"Aito needs help. They are focusing on the Octopussy, Milady.\"

    \"They won''t get away with it!\"

 76 76. Robo-Melee - Battle Royal Part 2

    Five frost-traps and five explosive-traps under her arms, Flora used the turrets as a springboard and jumped.

    She landed in the middle of the attackers. With a quick turn, she spread the traps around her.

    \"Don''t!\"

    Brandishing her plasma-sword, she attacked the leg of the grey batticle next to her. It had a similar loadout than Mia''s, a sword, a shield, and a laser on its cockpit, missing only the gun-suit.

    \"Hurt!\"

    A jet of fire engulfed Flora. A blue batticle with two flamethrowers instead of arms had attacked.

    Flora regretted that she hadn''t lowered the pain settings after the Pyramid-Scenario. Even fifty percent of the pain of getting burned was not pleasant.

    \"My!\"

    She rolled to the side and came up after a sweeping kick on the legs of the mech-suit user.

    \"Aitoshuri!\" Repressing the pain, she shouted the last word. She was on a mission! Those bastards should focus on her and not Aito!

    Flora recognized the model of the mech-suit in front of her and the user. It was the sleek assassin, the same base model she was using, donned by the female spotter. Of course, she knew its weak points as well as buttered toast. Grinning, Flora slashed at her arm.

    \"We will destroy everybody we want, bitch!\" screeched the mech-girl.

    A sword hit Flora''s side, emptying her lungs of air and pushing her away from the woman. She gasped and dove away.

    \"We are the owners of this ring!\" the mech-girl continued.

    Flora had trained herself to stay moving, but implementing it in a real fight raised the challenge. Her somersault had no aim, and she needed a second to orient herself.

    \"You are nothing but cowards. How do you fare when the shields are up?\" Something clicked in Flora''s mind. \"So you destroyed the shields! Otherwise, trash like you wouldn''t have a chance.\"

    The crowd murmured, and somebody yelled: \"Last week, the shields broke down, too, and Chooper won the Melee!\"

    Flora agreed with the audience. Those punks misbehaved and earned their ass beating.

    Right next to her, she found the blue flame thrower. Frost sprinkled its hull. An ice-trap had slowed down his movements.

    She stepped behind it, using it as cover. With a flurry of strikes, she hit its knees where she could see wires.

    ''Building joints is an art-form your creator wasn''t familiar with.''

    !

    A blastwave lanced by electric sparks originated from Flora and damaged the hostile machines.

    The Mech-Suit user rounded the batticle and slashed Flora with a katana while sprouting more nonsense.

    !

    From the other side, the second batticle was approaching. The Badmoves surrounded Flora, and her health-bar was close to bottoming out.

    \"Time to get out of here.\"

    Flora ported to her turrets. Immediately, she channeled Cluster Maintenance, repairing them, her mech-suit, and the octopus.

    The blue machine was still chilled, and the mech-girl occupied with the manual, but the grey batticle followed her. However, it stepped on an explosive trap and veered backward.

    \"Beep!\" Aitoshuri marked Chooper. He glowed in the same color as Flora.

    \"He is repairing his friends!\" Flora exclaimed.

    \"Beep...\" answered Aito, which Flora translated into, \"You are stating the obvious. Why do you think I''m shooting at him the whole time?\"

    \"Aidan, focus the turrets on Chooper.\"

    Flora threw mini lightning bolts from her plasma sword into the group and activated the Rapid Fire skill of her tower.

    Poisoned darts joint the attack from InsertMeme''s porcupine. Finally, her teammate had acted. Not only had he targeted the healer, but also the mech-girl faceplanted because a steel net wrapped around her legs.

    When Chooper despawned, Flora concentrated the attacks on her. But then she remembered Aito''s superior battle instincts.

    \"From now on, it''s your job to select the next target, Aito.\"

    This time, the AI agreed with her assessment and marked the mech-girl with a skull above her head.

    The two batticles sprinted to Flora, breaking the line of sight to the skull. But Flora wouldn''t let them.

    !

    This skill was another gem from the driver''s collection. It enabled cars to drive over everything. Applied to Flora''s mech-suit, it allowed her to trample over the batticle, shattering the protective glass of its cockpit.

    After reaching the top of the vehicle, she jumped down, directly on the mech-girls stomach.

    \"I''m too nice,\" murmured Flora as the girl vanished. \"I should have aimed for her head.\"

    \"Beep,\" agreed Aito. She had targeted the driver''s head after the windshield broke and took him out.

    The blue batticle was fleeing, but InsertMeme''s spider shot another net at his feet.

    A request to assist the Blade-Roller came from Aidan.

    Blade-Roller!

    Blade-Roller!

    While Flora answered Aidan''s pings, her other robots destroyed the last enemy.

    The crowd cheered. With everyone dead, they dared to curse the Badmoves.

    Smiling, InsertMeme Here appeared behind his cover.

    \"That went well!\"

    \"Yes, thank you for your help.\" Flora took out a paper a copied the blueprint for him.

    Before the ink had dried, Insert snatched the document out of Flora''s hand and scanned it.

    \"Haha! If you need a hand again, hit me up. I''m always looking for interesting blueprints.\" He sent Flora a friend request.

    \"Sure. My robot is still in the melee. See you.\" Flora cut it short. She was eager to go back to the melee. Aidan wouldn''t disturb her fight if the situation wasn''t dire.

    Engrossed in the diagrams, Inny mumbled a reply.

    Flora returned on top of the turrets.

    Not only had Flora''s health dropped down to twenty percent, but her mech-suit was also dented, the octopussy and the turrets stood on the junkyard''s door, while a jousting drone broke her Blade-Roller''s saw blades.

    But she was in high spirits.

    \"I believe I''m getting used to all this violence, sweeties.\"

    Skeptically, Aito beeped while Aidan pinged he needed healing.

    The robot fought two opponents at once, a black jousting drone and a book with spider legs and a worm on top.

    The rest of the arena was a mess; broken drones littered the area. Apart from the three machines, only smoke was moving on the floor.

    Flora watched the fight with growing concern.

    One of the Blade-Rollers sawblades stuck in the worm''s mouth, the other between the jaws of the book. Both weren''t able to move.

    As the Bookworm pinned Aidan down, the jousting drone harassed him, jabbing the core.

    \"Aito, suggestions, please.\"

    The AI answered with a data stream to Aidan and pinged Flora for a skill.

    !

    A yellow flame lunged out of the Blade-Roller, scorching the Bookworm. Maybe because the fire had damaged the drone''s teeth and, therefore, their grip loosened, the Blade-Roller was able to spin its saws again.

    \"Go for it, Aidan!\" Flora cheered.

    !

    What once was a disadvantaged position, had turned into a boon. The Blade-Roller sliced off the head of the worm and shredded the innards of the book.

    Another opponent down, one more to go.

    Broken blades and bent arms gave the Blade-Roller a pitiful appearance. It needed not only a simple repair but a complete overhaul and restoration.

    Because the healing command was still on cooldown, Flora activated Hurry Up, followed by Human-Machine-Connection.

    \"Play for time, Aidan.\"

    The jousting drone was faster, but Aidan was agile. He took sharp turns around the wreckage or even hopped over it, while the chasing drone had to make a detour.

    The audience booed at Flora''s cowardly behavior, but she didn''t care. She had earned the respite.

    At last, the cooldown for Grease with Life''s blood ran out, and she recast it while drinking another health potion. Her level 100+ stamina regen had filled her up to 30 percent, and the medicine added another 50 points, raising her bar to half full.

    When Flora''s mana ran dry, the Blade-Roller was up to 60% health. Chugging a mana potion, Flora gave the command to attack.

    Aidan jumped at the top of the drone and started sawing. The lance sprang up, but Aidan was the class representative of Aitoshuri''s Supreme School of kicking, and he always paid attention to the lessons.

    Emulating Aito''s maneuver against Mia, he clamped down on the lance with multiple saws. The blades bit deep into the bar.

    The drone buckled, but Aidan''s grip didn''t falter until he cut the lance off. The upper part of the spear and the Blade-Roller tumbled down.

    Now, the drone had lost its primary weapons. It tried to ram the Blade-Roller, but Aidan danced around it.

    Slice for slice, he dismantled the drone until it yielded to the Blade-Roller''s advances.

    \"And the winner of the weekly Battle Royal is the Blade-Roller-Extreme created by Flowing Flowers!\"

    At the medal ceremony, Oreo Kobenhavn, an albino guy dressed in black, and Rabid Reader, an older female with glasses, got small trophies.

    Flora obtained a hip-high monster, a goblet held up by a pile of drones.

    \"Haha, week of the grannies, ey?\" Tamara, the commentator, said. Flora just rolled her eyes and pocket the trophy, while the bookish woman berated Tamara about ageism.

    Flora had no time to waste. She wanted to link all her classes at last, and she only had today to accomplish it. For this, she needed to obtain the class Technomancer.

    The first step had been winning the Robot-Melee. For the next step, she had to hand in the quest in the Garage.

    Before she could teleport away, an official caught up with her. His skin shone in a metallic red, and he wore the same uniform as the guy who injected Aidan into the Blade-Roller.

    \"I have been notified you accused members of the clan Badmove of tampering with the shields. Do you have any proof?\"

    \"No, sir. I''ll send you the video''s of them targeting the player they fought inside the arena on the outside. Their approach was planned and systematical. Coupled with the claims of superiority of their leader, I deduced they were behind the malfunction.\"

    \"We have them captive and sent for a paladin to interrogate them. Can you join the trial as a witness?\"

    \"Urgh. Only if I have to, I''m busy for the next few days. If I stay away, does it affect the probability of them getting convicted?\"

    The official surveyed Flora''s videos before he answered. \"I think the footage is sufficient.\"

    \"Great. By the way, what are the consequences if they are guilty?\"

    \"Their permission to occupy the premise will be revoked and a massive reputation loss with all the Arenas on Panem Et Ludis.\"

    \"Not bad.\"

    Porting over to the Garage, she looked for the foreman Snoralga in his office.

    \"You''re back, and how did the Melee go for you?\"

    Flora showed him the trophy.

    \"Nice work, lady. Finally, we have a candidate those MI guys can''t complain about. And lady, don''t let them put you down. Those nerds think they''re all high and mighty, but they build their stuff out of the same metal we all do.\"

    Flora nodded. She loved to brag but preferred to do it after she succeeded. It was a question of style, not of lack of confidence.

    Quest: The Quality of Education (The Garage)

    Description: Convince the Magetech Institute of the quality of work of the representatives of the Garage. That means you.

    Restriction: You can only attempt this quest once.

    Possible Rewards: Reputation gains with the MI and the Garage

    Possible Penalties: Reputation loss with the MI and the Garage

    Difficulty: A

    Snoralga transferred a recommendation letter to her batch and wished her good luck.

    \"Do you have any advice?\"

    His eyes darted to the octopussy.

    \"Yeah, if you have more helpers like this one, take them with you.\"

    Flora returned to her lair.

    More helpers? No problem!

    She printed two more forklift robots and three more octopussies. The squids didn''t incorporate refined materials for their hull, but she had enough for the skeletons.

    After she refilled her potions and traps and repaired the rest of her equipment, she took a deep breath.

    Her experiences in the Cetviwos had taught her not to underestimate A-rated quests, but she felt ready, even excited.

 77 77. The Quality of Flowing Flowers

    Flora sat in the waiting area of the Magetech Institute, skimming through a book about runes. Only her tapping foot revealed her impatience.

    The little violet octopus next to her put one glowing tentacle next to its head as if it was covering its ear. A white ball moved across the video-skin on its head. When it reached the bright tip, it reversed directions. Leaning on the violet squid, a second, blue-colored octopus had its glowing tentacle on the other side of its head.

    The display of the ball transferred from head to head with the tentacles used as reflectors.

    Yes, Aitoshuri and Aidan were playing Pong.

    \"Enough is enough!\" Resolutely, Flora closed the book. \"This waiting time is only acceptable for a top-notch hair salon or a kidney transplant! Am I in desperate need of a new hair-style?\"

    \"No, Milady! You look wonderful, like always! Your kidneys are great, too!\"

    Flora marched to the player information and informed the receptionist that her contact could fetch her from Doc Brownski''s office if they ever cared to show up at all.

    After knocking, Flora experienced a Deja Vu.

    \"No! No!\" came from the other side, followed by the sound of something crashing down. \"Okay, now you can come in.\"

    \"Huhu, Doc.\"

    The bronze-skinned man with silver hair jumped up from the mess of gadgets on his floor and shook Flora''s hand with enthusiasm.

    \"Are you the new test object-I mean-test SUBJECT? You are an earthling! Great! That means you are immortal!\"

    \"No, I''m an old test subject. Your nocks and jacks work wonderfully. I have no problems at all.\"

    \"Splendid! Splendid! Splendid!\" The doc craned his neck to look behind her shoulder, and Flora dutifully turned around to give him better access, right after she had checked out his badge.

    Name: Emerald Brownski

    Title: Doctor

    Class: Mad Scientist

    Level: 1 (250)

    Rating: S

    Fortunately, the doc couldn''t see her face. Torn between fear because a freaking S rated Boss stood behind her unprotected back and envy of his class, she couldn''t calm her emotions.

    \"Aito, find out how to get this class. I want it! I need it! I already have it, only System doesn''t know about it!\"

    \"Beep.\"

    \"I want to buy some of your excellent jacks. Do you have more of them?\"

    \"Most interesting!\" He exclaimed while poking her nocks.

    \"The jacks, Doc?\"

    \"What jacks?\"

    \"The Brownski Jacks, can you sell them to me?\"

    \"Do I look like a vendor?\"

    Flora sighed and turned around, eyeballing him. He wore a white lab coat over a blue aloha shirt.

    \"No. But last time we were able to make a deal. Do you need anything I have to offer?\"

    The doctor looked her up and down, pausing on her bust.

    \"Not that kind of offer!\" Flora protested.

    \"Nope.\"

    \"Alright. You don''t happen to know where I can get the Technomancer class, do you?\" Flora thought a shot in the dark couldn''t hurt.

    \"Technomancers! You seemed to be so nice, at least until you refused to offer your body for further experimentation. What do you want with that nasty bunch?\"

    \"What''s wrong with them?\"

    \"They DON''T use nocks. Can you believe it?\"

    \"No, nocks are so handy. How do they connect with their gadgets?\"

    \"With magic, of course. But that isn''t the problem. They can interrupt or even highjack your connection with your nocks. The MI has a few experts who research measures against them. But if you ask me, they are like those demonologists, who claim they only learn to summon for banishing demons. Half a year later, they get busted with a succubus in their bedroom.\"

    Flora shrugged, she had no experience with demonologists.

    \"I fortified my nocks against technomancers, but I haven''t tested the feature. Because there are no technomancers, I trust. But if you get me some data, I think about selling some Brownski Jacks to you.\"

    \"Deal!\"

    Quest: Data for Doc Brownski (unique)

    Description: Provide data from experiments of technomancer attack skills against users with Brownski Nocks.

    Rewards: Opportunity to buy Brownski Jacks.

    Penalty: None

    Difficulty: A

    Finally, Flora''s contact appeared. It was a pale green guy, easily two heads taller than Flora if you counted his spiked up orange hair.

    While he was barely polite in the doc''s office, he dropped all pretenses when they were alone.

    \"I hope you have washed your hands. Opposite to the more lax regulations in the garage, here we care about hygiene.\"

    Almost all his sentences started similarly.

    \"Opposite to the rough work in the garage, here we do the finest creations.\"

    \"Opposite to the uncouth behavior in the garage, here we care about manners.\"

    First, Flora was amused, but this sentence was the last toast that broke the toaster''s circuits.

    \"Opposite to the polite conversations I had in the garage, here I have to suffer condescension.\" she joined in.

    \"Hmpf.\" He turned up his nose and sped up, forcing Flora to jog after him.

    They arrived at a depot. Rows upon rows of shelves filled it. But her guide didn''t stop until they reached the end. Here a mountain of mech-suit parts piled up to the ceiling.

    \"Your job is to sort them. Throw away the unsalvageable pieces and repair the rest. Then reassemble the functioning parts. You have four hours.\" He pointed at a camera on the ceiling. \"No theft tolerated. Make sure the broken bits end up in the waste container.\"

    \"Do you have blueprints for the mech-suits?\"

    He sneered at her but transferred three schematics before he left: A light mech-suit, much less elaborate than the Sleek Assassin, a medium mech-suit with a pronounced upper body and a heavy mech-suit just one step away from being a batticle.

    Quest: Conquer the Mountain (Magetech Institute)

    Description: Assemble eight functioning mech-suits within the time limit.

    Possible rewards:

    Reputation gain with the MI

    Follow up quest

    Possible penalties: Reputation loss with the MI

    Time-Limit: 4 hours

    Difficulty: B

    Reading, she only had to finish eight suits, relieved her. From the info of the flower-guy, she had thought she had to work through the whole mountain. Four hours would be tight for that. She grinned. \"Tight but not impossible.\"

    After fetching the two forklift-robots from her inventory, she surveyed the hall. There was a well-equipped workshop at the left wall and enough open space to built her own piles.

    Drawing on her HUD, she defined 12 areas on the floor. One for broken things with salvageable spare parts and three patches for each blueprint: One for finished pieces, one for repairs under 10 ten minutes, and one for repairs under 20 minutes, and the biggest and last area for the rest.

    \"Lifty One and Two, your job is to put the parts from the mountain into my patches. Only if you are over 95% sure, what you find is broken beyond repair, throw it into the container.\" Flora had inserted Aidan''s jacks into them.

    \"Aito, you repair the under 5 minutes pieces of the light mech suit. Concentrate on one blueprint first and prioritize parts we need for a full set. Aidan-Pussy - let''s go with Octo-Aidan instead - you focus on the medium mech-suits. Everyone, I want the parts looking brand new!\" Flora clapped. \"This is the best quest ever!\"

    She put her mech-suit away because the depot had a metal handicap of 20, and approached the mountain. Right away, she saw a torso with shattered legs belonging to the heavy mech-suit. Grabbing it, she skipped to a free workbench and started tinkering.

    Her assumption the parts on the mountain stayed there too long for the skill Repair to fix proved to be right. However, she had other skills in her repertoire, like Transform Inorganics. Metal was notoriously challenging to transform with magic. For the rough work, she would use a hammer.

    Flora dismantled the broken legs and threw them into the trash; at least she tried but missed. Then she finished repairing the torso and put it into the finished-pieces-patch of the heavy armor.

    Meanwhile, the forklifts had put a few more parts of the heavy armor in her patches, supplying Flora.

    The four robots and one human worked in harmony. Flora felt like whistling and tried a few notes, but stopped when Aidan and Aito joined in. They were even more tone-deaf than her.

    Fifteen minutes later, Flora finished her first mech-suit. Shortly aftward, Aito beeped; she had enough parts for another.

    Flora assembled it as well and fixed with magic what a hammer couldn''t do while Aito switched positions, repairing the heavy modules.

    She had to reevaluate the light mech-suit. The more she learned about it, the more impressed she was.

    The Sleek Assassin was more advanced, but it had more weaknesses, and Flora couldn''t exploit its strength, high agility in dagger fights, because her sword-fighting sucked.

    On the other hand, the light mech-suit SMS4903, which she dubbed \"Messenger\", supported the muscles in the legs, specifically the muscles you needed for jumping and sprinting. The model would make an excellent base for her next suit.

    \"Milady, I have enough repaired elements for one medium mech-suit and at least two others for which only the small parts are missing.\"

    \"I noticed the problem, too. The small missing pieces might be on the bottom of the mountain. We have to dismantle the mountain horizontally. Lifty One, focus on the little parts.\"

    Flora''s piles had grown and were about to spill into the neighboring areas, so it was okay for one of the lifters to spend more time searching the mountain.

    Every ten minutes, another finished mech-suit joint his brothers, then every eight minutes, every five minutes, at last, every 3,5 minutes.

    Even with extensive use of telekinesis Flora couldn''t speed it up anymore. She already drank mana-potions like an addict and held Recharge and Pray For Mana on cooldown.

    Because her diagnosis tool needed too long, she pumped her mana into the suits and listened to the resonance.

    -----------------

    You gained a skill: Diagnose (electromechanical).

    You learned the skill without guidance: + 1 OV to the skill.

    -----------------

    Additionally, all the tossing trash into the container netted her the ability \"Throwing.\"

    Two hours later, the mountain had shrunken into a hill while the piles had grown into hills. Flora exchanged the forklift-robots with octopussies and ordered Octo Two to man the third station and Octo Three to assist it and fetch more materials when needed.

    Another hour later, they ran out of parts to finish the rest of the mech-suits according to the blueprints.

    \"Let''s have fun with it!\" The smile had stayed on Flora''s face during the whole quest and now grew even more significant.

    With only twenty minutes left on the timer, Flora crafted one hybrid suit, one mech-arm, and a pair of rocket-boots out of the remaining pieces.

    While Flora inspected the 35 mech-suits and octopussies polished them, the flower-guy and a man from the metal race arrived.

    \"Where is the mountain?\" The black haired, silver-skinned man exclaimed.

    \"The anti-theft devices were active, I made sure of it, sir!\"

    \"Good afternoon,\" Flora smirked and pointed on the rows of shining armor. \"We transformed the mountain into mech-suits.\"

    The two men gaped at them as if they had never seen a mech-suit before.

    \"This, this ... she must have cheated.\" Flower-guy stuttered. \"Brutes from the Garage can''t work that well.\"

    Quest completed: Conquer the Mountain (Magetech Institute)

    Reward: Reputation gain with the MI and Follow Up Quest.

    Completion: S

    Quest completed: The Quality of Education (The Garage)

    Rewards: Reputation gains with the MI and the Garage

    Completion: S

    \"Silence! Don''t insult our new technician!\" His badge identified him as Ferdinand Verden, assistant research director in the mech department of the MI.

    He explained they needed the help of a technician to repair the old mech-suits they destroyed while testing the newest line and asked if she could come by now and then.

    Quest: Technician for Mech Suit Grind (Magetech Institute) - Repeatable

    Description: Repair mech-suits at least twice a week.

    Possible rewards:

    Reputation gain with the MI

    Materials

    Blueprints

    Possible penalties: Reputation loss with the MI

    Difficulty: C

    Though it wasn''t the outcome she had hoped for, Flora agreed.

    \"I want to obtain the Technomancer class. Can you help me in this regard?\"

    The flower-guy bristled, but before he could say anything, Verden answered: \"Well, I can at least introduce you to one. The rest is up to you.\"

 78 78. Technomancer

    Ferdinand led Flora to a corridor near the surface of the earth. He stopped in front of a door with a \"DO NOT DISTURB!\" sign on it.

    \"Well, here we are.\" He glanced nervously at the door. \"Bad timing. I''ll introduce you to her on your next visit.\"

    \"I''m sorry I have to meet the technomancer now.\"

    \"Well, good luck.\" Before Flora could say good-bye, he had vanished.

    Feeling lost, Flora stared at the door. It was tagged with \"Professor Quon\" easily readable in the glow of the warning sign.

    Because she hated to be disturbed while designing, Flora respected the plaque. On the other hand, she was on schedule. She had to connect her classes before the duel, not to speak of the Hero''s Entrance.

    While pondering what to do, she inspected the pulsating letters.

    \"I believe the glow originates from a rune-scheme.\"

    No runes were visible, therefore Flora XYZ-rayed the plaque.

    The door hurled open, and Flora stood face to face with an angry woman. She had red skin and her yellow hair in a messy bun.

    \"What are you doing?\" Professor Quon yelled.

    \"I thought about whether I should knock or not and was distracted by the sign. Using the Chamak Rune in such a configuration is brilliant! I bet, less than two MR/min can power the whole scheme.\"

    \"Exactly one MR.\" The professor calmed down. \"So you aren''t a total dolt. Good for you, but not good enough to waste my time.\"

    \"I want to obtain the Technomancer class. Please teach me the spells.\"

    \"Yes, you and every other newbie who wants to mess with other people''s gadgets. Get a signal-snatcher and a lock-pick and learn to hack.\"

    \"If you doubt whether it''s worth your time, I''will pay a generous reimbursement. I need the class to connect the mage part of my class tree to the technician part. \" Flora had the policy to state the truth. Even if she wanted to make up a better explanation, she wouldn''t know what to say.

    Quon snorted. \"That''s an excuse I never heard before. So you want one of the most conveyed and vilified classes just to connect your classes. That''s too rich!\" She broke out in full-blown laughter.

    \"I still don''t understand why technomancy has such a bad reputation if you can achieve the same results with hacking.\"

    \"Because its magic and those wire heads don''t understand magic. People fear what they don''t understand.\" Quon continued to rant about superstitions and the gulf between magic and technology.

    \"Alright. Then there is no reason why you shouldn''t teach me. We could have already finished the lesson.\" Flora interjected when the professor paused to take a breath. \"My nocks are Brownski nape sockets. I let you try out your powers on them.\"

    Quon''s eyes glinted, but Flora reacted faster.

    !

    Her shield shook from Quon''s mental attack, and the two women stared at each other.

    \"Not bad, not bad at all. To be able to cast a spell here, you have to have an excellent metal affinity for a level 1 newbie.\"

    Flora acknowledged the compliment with a nod. \"Do we have a deal?\"

    \"I show you the diagrams for the standard spells. The time you need to learn them is the time I get to test your nocks. Ten minutes max for a spell.\"

    \"Agreed.\" Flora smiled wrily; the professor might have shot herself in the foot.

    \"Single target attack: Disturb Connection.\"

    After Quon activated a console, it projected the shining lines of the skill-diagram in the air.

    Circling it, Flora took her time to analyze the construction. First, she couldn''t make heads and tails out of it and cursed her arrogance from a moment ago.

    ''Concentrate on the present, postpone unproductive regrets! Start with the branch of the skill.''

    The outer part was definitely magic. She had a lot of experience with recognizing its signature. The inner part looked like magic from afar but had a different flavor.

    As Flora changed positions, the diagram moved in her peripheral vision. The blurred forms in the corner of her eyes revealed the forest instead of the trees. Her head snapped back. It was a command, a command nested inside a spell.

    In hindsight, the arrangement was perfectly logical and self-evident. It represented what the Technomancer-class was about, simulating commands with magic.

    \"Activate friendly fire, Aidan. I''m sorry for what I''m going to do.\"

    Flora didn''t know where to aim the spell; the connection to the octopussy or her nock were the most likely targets. Therefore she just vaguely focused both and let the magic reach its destination on its own.

    Immediately, she felt the effects; the link to the octopussy wobbled. To test it, she tried to push a command through it.

    !

    The magic diffused, but a bit of it reached Octo-Aidan.

    ***************

    You gained a skill: Disturb Connection.

    Description: Destabilizes the connection between operator and gadget, cutting the mana supply and the command chain.

    CD: 1 min.

    Duration: 10 sec.

    ***************

    Flowing Flowers to AIs: \"Fortify your firewalls and resist.\"

    \"Your turn, Professor.\"

    Quon raised her eyebrows, but uttered nothing but a spell: \"Highjack Connection!\"

    Flora felt her link to Aito''s octopus go dark. Staring at the squid, she waited for something to happen, and waited and waited. Finally, Aito moved her tentacles in a complacent gesture and beeped derisively.

    Flora glanced at the professor and caught her baffled gaze.

    \"The AI controller of this robot is a bit special. Maybe you better do your tests with the other octopus.\"

    \"The AIs of you earthlings are way beyond our technology. And you say your AI is even more extraordinary? Remarkable...\" Quon sounded a lot more civil than before. \"Disturb Connection!\"

    The link to Aidan vanished. For the professor''s benefit, Flora verbalized the command: \"Robot Armor!\"

    The magic moved into the nock but then hit a wall. It stopped the skill completely, but Flora had a hunch that the barrier wasn''t very stable.

    \"Hurry Up!\" - Nothing.

    \"Human-Machine Connection!\" The channeling did the trick: Flora repeatedly rammed her magic into the wall until it shattered, and the skill went through.

    Flora and Octo-Aidan glowing in the same color proved her success.

    Giving the pair an unreadable glance, the professor activated the console again and snapped: \"Area of Effect: Disturb Mana Links.\"

    This time, it was too easy. The diagram was basically the extenuated AoE version of the first spell. Flora needed less than 10 seconds to grasp it.

    \"Disturb Mana Connections!\" A short check revealed the spell clocked all her connections to her gadgets. Flora could still send commands through them, albeit weakened. The links to her AI''s weren''t affected. \"Your turn.\"

    ***************

    You gained a skill: Disturb Mana Connection.

    Description: Destabilizes the connection between all operators, mana springs, and their linked gadgets, reducing the mana flow.

    CD: 1 min.

    Duration: 10 sec.

    ***************

    \"All my significant spells are on cooldown,\" Quon lamented. \"And if I complain any longer, I won''t even have time to cast a less interesting spell. Disturb Mana Connections!\"

    Flora was thankful for it. Now she could compare the effects of Quon''s spell to her own version. The disturbance was more pronounced, but no additional impacts noticeable.

    \"Overcharge In-Built Feature: Vicious Cut!\"

    Flora reported back the percentage of functionality and her OV in the skill. She figured it was relevant for the judgment of how the Brownski nocks influenced the effect.

    \"Defensive Skill: Fortify Connection.\"

    One minute later, Flora had a new skill, which Quon had to test. The professor still managed to close the link, but the barrier was even more flimsy.

    \"Highjack Connection!\"

    This time, Quon cast it on Octo-Aidan. The octopussy backflipped without pause. While Aito folded four tentacles over her head and sank to the ground, Flora wrinkled her forehead.

    \"I''m sorry, Milady. She sounded very convincing.\"

    \"But did she sound like me?\"

    \"No, but like an owner.\"

    \"Beep beep.\"

    \"This counts for all of you: Please only adhere to reasonable commands. Always prioritize mine or those of people I have delegated or your fellow AI''s.\"

    Aito beeped satisfied. For a moment, Flora asked herself whether the order had any loopholes and found some potential for future mayhem. On the other hand, it gave her AI''s a fallback instruction to resist the Headmaster, so Flora let it stand.

    Flowing Flowers to AIs: \"Does Fortify Connection has a permanent component as well when its level exceeds 200?\"

    \"I assume, yes, Milady.\"

    \"Raise it.\"

    Meanwhile, Quon had projected the next diagram, Increase Range.

    After Flora had learned it, she obtained one more skill, Establish Connection, and the class.

    Class: Technomancer

    Branch: Magic

    Passive: + 1 Training efficiency modifier for affinity/resistance Technomancy

    Active: Hacking, Antimagic and Technomancer Attacks are more difficult against your links

    Flora wanted to try out the new spell on another octopus. It had still Aidan''s jack injected, which was necessary because he was the operator. But instead of inserting the robot''s jack into her nock, she cast Establish Connection.

    Everything was equal to a regular connection; she could feel no difference, and the commands worked.

    \"Thank you very much, Professor. I obtained the class. I believe you got the burned end of the toast in our deal. Please be free to take your time with the remaining experiments.\" Flora''s offer originated not entirely from her sense of fairness. She also needed more data for Doc Brownski.

    That put her into a dilemma. She liked the professor. Even when she had been disgruntled, she still showed Flora courtesy with verbalizing every spell and also told her the skill-names.

    \"By the way, I will tell Doc Brownski about our tests.\" Flora decided for transparency.

    \"You are a spy! Stealing my work is the real reason you wanted to become a technomancer.\" She laughed bitterly. \"The old coot pulled a fast one over me. For once, I decided to be nice, and this is the result.\"

    \"No, no, no. I just chatted with him coincidentally and told him about my interest in technomancy. In response, he mentioned he needed test-data. He didn''t know I would visit you. If you want this session to be private, I will respect it. I have no obligation to tell him anything.\" Flora abhorred the proverb about no good deeds going unpunished.

    Quon scrutinized Flora''s expression. At last, she nodded.

    \"Well, we have our differences, but the research about nocks and their links suffered because of them. Maybe, its for the best when you tell Brownski about my experiments. I have no results yet. I believe you are a bad test subject because of your magical talent. I can''t judge whether the Brownski nocks or your prowess caused the greater difficulty in influencing the connections.\"

    Flora pointed at Octo-Two. \"You can contrast it with my technomancy link.\"

    \"Right. Two more minutes until the cooldown will run out.\" Quon examined Flora again. \"You haven''t asked me about the Highjack Connection spell.\"

    \"Well, the name is pretty self-explanatory, and I''ve seen its effect.\"

    \"This spell is the reason every magically inclined hacker wants to become a technomancer. Don''t you want to learn it?\"

    \"Sure.\" Flora agreed.

    \"It wasn''t an offer! I won''t teach it to you.\"

    \"Sorry, you lost me. What is the issue?\"

    \"The issue is I still don''t believe your class-tree excuse.\" Quon messed up her hair.

    \"Right! My class-tree!\" Flora happily inserted the Technomancer between Tinkerer and Tech-Support.

    The class had Lightning Mage as a second predecessor. She substituted it with Energy-Master. Under Energy-Master hang Elemental Mage, Kinetic Mage, and Sword Master.

    \"Great.\" Satisfied, Flora marveled at her tree. But then she discovered Light and Shadow Mage weren''t part of it. \"You don''t know by chance, how I can connect light and shadow magic to elemental magic, divine stuff, or technical stuff, do you?\"

    \"By Molana''s wand, how many classes do you have? No, don''t answer?if I had your ability to learn skills, I would have acquired a few more myself.\"

    As they waited for the cooldown, the women chatted about classes and gods. Molana, the goddess of magetech and patron of Yolanda Quon, had a similar agenda to the Evailyn, namely harmony between technic and magic. While Molana focused more on science, Evailyn concentrated on the people''s relationship with gadgets.

    After Quon concluded her experiments, they aggregated the data together. The results were inconclusive but pointed towards a slight handicap of 1 OV because of Brownski''s nocks.

    Yolanda couldn''t refrain from commentating her nocks had a higher threshold, which made Flora smile.

    \"I''ll tell him.\"

    \"Oh, he knows.\" Yolanda grinned.

    Flora took the data to the Doc, doing her best to emphasize the willingness of Quon to reach out to him. But the Doc took it as a scheme and even mistrusted the tests. Maybe the bad results played a role in it, too. He bristled at them but sold Flora five jacks.

 79 79. PREP CRAFTING

    Flora ported back to her lair.

    Absentmindedly, she sent a Brownski-Jack to Robby, Eddie, and Mia with just a short text: \"Found good stuff, enjoy the gift, your loving Mama/ Flora / Auntie.\"

    Her thoughts were still on the mountain-quest and especially the mech-suit models she assembled.

    \"Honestly, I feel naked without wearing a mech-suit. I need something over my mana reg clothing. Maybe normal armor? But I''m still in love with the whole mech-suit idea. After the wonderful quest more than ever.\"

    Entering the Simulation Grounds and Deriga''s workshop, she plunged into the jacuzzi and opened the marketplace access.

    After she discarded knight armor, leather bustiers, chainmail-combos, and especially a chainmail-bra, she gave up. Nothing listed, she liked more than a mech-suit.

    \"My little PvP teachers said I shouldn''t waste mana-reg on a mech-suit. Do you think they are right?\"

    \"Beep.\"

    \"I don''t know, Milady. The conventional wisdom is to either play as pet-player and invest all the mana-reg in companions or as hero-player, stacking mana-reg to strengthen yourself.\"

    \"Hero-player sounds a lot better than a pet-player. Tell me what they do.\"

    \"They use their mana-reg for boosts, like the agility-boost you know or their armor, be it technological like mech-suits and batticles or magical like rune-armor.\"

    \"Let''s try it out.\"

    \"Use your 10 Mana-Reg for the boost and 21 Mana-Reg for the Mech-Suit, Milady.\"

    Flora jumped out of the pool on a workbench nearby, did a backflip to the floor, and shadowboxed.

    \"I feel like a superhero!\"

    \"Your normal physical stats are:

    29 Power

    29 Macro-Control

    28 Micro-Control

    31 Vigor

    33 Regeneration

    32 Defense

    With boost and mech-suit they are:

    65 Power

    47 Macro-Control

    32 Micro-Control

    35 Vigor

    37 Regeneration

    71 Defense

    Additionally, your mech-suit has an HP pool of 322. Every physical damage and arcane and elemental damage will be shared with it.\"

    \"71 % defense, does that mean I get 71% less damage from physical sources?\"

    \"Yes, Milady. And damage with 7 points or under will be blocked completely.\"

    \"Holy toaster! How can this be any worse than my turret octopussy set-up?\"

    \"There is only you. If you are out of range or controlled, there will be no damage at all. You have no weapons scaling with strength but your fists and no melee skills to bolster them.\"

    \"Oh.\" Flora was disappointed. Nonetheless, she bought a blueprint of a dummy capable of measuring DPS (damage per second).

    Hitting it with Wing-Tsu chain punches felt awesome, but netted only around 70 DPS compared to the 100 DPS when she would do the same punches naked but backed up by four turret traps and one octopussy firing away.

    \"You raised a good point with being controlled. What I like about having assistants is, when I freeze or when the opponents morph me into a sheep, my helpers still are going to get them.\" Flora mused. \"What do you think about me making a light mech-suit. Because I''m less than two meters tall, I can only put two generators in it. That means 3 Mana-Reg. Aitoshuri won''t even feel the difference if I subtract them from the octopussies budget, right?\"

    \"Beep, beep.\" Aito disagreed, but then added a vague, \"Beeeeep.\"

    \"Anyway, I fell for the model SMS4903. On a new suit, I can add two features I need: a wrist-holster for the multitool and a forearm gun. I''m not too fond of letting go of the multitool every time I engage in hand-to-hand combat. Besides, I want to get higher skill results when casting through a focus. I believe I could cast through the tool when it touches my forearm. We have to test it. The reason for the gun is I don''t enjoy the enemies shooting at me at 50m distance, and I have nothing to retaliate.\"

    \"As you wish, Milady.\"

    Flora took the blueprint of the SMS4903 and reworked every part of it. She broke up the breastplate for more flexibility, replaced the antishock pads and motors, and increased the size of the visor on the helmet. Then she transferred her favorite features of the Ivy-League to it.

    The integration of the multitool proved to be tricky, but Flora was trickier. Now, she could snatch it and put it away with a flick of her wrist. Casting spells through it worked whether she held it or not.

    First, she was disappointed because she found no gun with a 50m range short enough for her forearm, but then she discovered a mini rocket-launcher. You could double-tap the trigger, one time for launching and one time for exploding it. Flora liked the idea - even if she missed by a few centimeters, as long as she timed the second tap right, it would still affect the target. Unfortunately, it could only pack six rockets, expensive rockets to boot.

    Meanwhile, Aitoshuri put large amounts of tier 1 plastic, mostly the flame-resistant Kynarosium, and stone in the fusion box, because Flora didn''t want to build the suit out of metal. She tried to lower the handicap for spells as much as possible.

    Name: Messenger

    Modification: SMS4903

    Type: Mech-suit

    Regular-Mode: 5 MR (-2MR generated)

    Built-In Feature: Sprint; 25 sec CD.

    Built-In Feature: Jump; 25 sec CD.

    Built-In Skill: Power-Jump; 5 mana; 25 sec CD.

    Built-In Skill: Rocket-Boots; 3 mana per burst.

    Integrated Rocket-Launcher:

    Built-In Feature: Rocket-Launch; 5 sec CD.

    Built-In Feature: Rocket Explode; 5 sec CD.

    Built-In Skill: High-Pressure Explosion; 10 mana; 25 sec CD.

    Effects:

    ? 30 min survival without air

    ? - 2 OV Micro-Control

    ? - 1 OV Agility

    Tier: 1

    Rating: S

    After Flora printed it, she tested the launcher outdoors. To her chagrin, she had problems with hitting a garage door from a distance of 25m, at 50 meters distance, she was able to strike the river Rhine, mainly because it was 200 meters broad.

    \"I have to train shooting, preferably on auto-mode, but how can I reload while I''m not in charge of the body?\"

    Aitoshuri had a solution. She displayed a skill called Reload and a picture of Mia next to it.

    Calling Mia, Flora jogged to the printer to create more rockets.

    \"Huhu, dear.\"

    \"Auntie... I don''t know what to say.\"

    \"But I haven''t even told you what I need! By the way, ''Hello'' is usually appropriate to start a conversation.\"

    \"Auntie... your gift is too groovy. I''m wrangling my brain what I can offer you to sell me the method you acquired the jacks. Are you interested in my soul? But I''m not sure if it''s worth much.\"

    \"Oh, no, sorry dear, I don''t deal in souls, though I''m sure yours is valuable. But the info is even more precious than you think.\" Flora linked her the Brownski-nocks. \"You can get them there as well.\"

    \"Damnation! What about human-trade? I''ll make a good henchgirl.\"

    \"Sure, 100 virtual hours and free skills.\"

    \"Great, I''d even take it for 100 real hours.\"

    Flora told Mia everything about Doc Brownski and his excitement for human experimentation. In return, she got the Reload skill and the rest of the marksperson class.

    Class: Marksperson

    Branch: Warrior

    Passive: + 1 Training efficiency modifier for ranged abilities

    Active: Decrease Range Difficulty

    STA: Power Shot

    AOE: Barrage

    DEF: Cover

    MOV: Backpaddle

    SIG: Set Mark

    The last skill caught Flora''s attention. It marked a target with an arrow above its head, which caused it to take more damage from all sources.

    \"How does the arrow behave when the target turns invisible?\"

    \"Unfortunately, it becomes invisible, too. But I sometimes think I can somehow feel the location of the mark. Could be my imagination, though, or something to do with perception. SAF claims he can always sense his targets autonomously from casting mark.\" Mia shrugged.

    After thanking Mia, she gave the girl her first work assignment: raiding the Doom Moon.

    \"Of course, I pay for your entry fee but make sure to loot lots of multitools. Some plasma swords or tier 1 materials would be nice as well.\"

    Flora passed her a map of the moon with the warehouses marked and some loot-containers with Haidan''s toaster-camouflage design.

    Because Flora wanted to train as much as possible, she entered Deriga''s workshop again.

    Raising Re-Generate to level 100 was a must. She hoped to reach level 200 in Astral Vision, but Aidan claimed it would need 84 hours of casting it every 2 seconds. Even with two bodies training, it would take longer than until her duel at noon tomorrow.

    The next item on her list was an elemental focus specialized on water spells. Her plasma-sword lightning focus was great, but she doubted it would produce optimal results against Ahoncarthyr. Plasma counted towards the lightning element, but Flora knew it was burning gas. And using it created burns on her opponents, so she figured fire resistance played a roll in the calculations of its effect. No doubt, the fire-tiger had ample fire-resistance.

    She went with a ring because she could wear it under her armor and had not to worry about where to store it when she was going to punch or launch her rockets.

    Flora created a band from a blue stone and shaped it like a wave.

    Because she had found out about the effect of ornamental runes, she covered the whole ring with them, inside and out¡ªsome runic clusters in the shape of waterdrops, some foam or just waves.

    The stingy Admin had limited the boosters to the rune-scheme, but nobody could order her how many runes to incorporate. So she decided on a mythological number, 55555, because water was the fifth element in the Chinese system.

    After a mad copying spree, Flora finished her newest masterpiece.

    Name: Wavering Wave-Ring

    Type: Focus

    Description: Elemental-Focus with a strong emphasis on water and its waves.

    Regular mode: 1 OV Mana-Regeneration.

    Built-In Skill: Shoot water cantrip; Cost: 1 mana; CD: 2sec;

    Effect: Splash. Secondary Effects of spells hit nearby targets or main target twice.

    Focus: Base Damage: 3

    Tier: 1

    Rating: S

    Before printing, Flora refined the A-rated Saphiron stone multiple times until it reached S.

    Donning her new focus, she tested her equipment.

    The poor dummy had to suffer under Flora''s exercises and the wall behind it even more. She trained running and shooting, running and casting spells, both while lying (on the back, on the side, on the stomach) or while standing up and, of course, after doing free-running maneuvers like flipping and rolling.

    Because Aidan raised her spells in the treadmill, it happened multiple times her skills failed due to cooldown. It had the side effect of Flora internalizing to keep an eye on the CD-display.

    Her biggest improvement was lowering the cast-time. During the Mountain-Quest, she had mastered Re-Charge, and now she added Bolt, Shield, Rain, and Use Built-In Skill to the list. She made headway into the movement skills, too. While she used them often during her free-running, the new mech-suit changed her weight and balance.

    Although she was delighted with the Messenger, it allowed her less liberty of action than the Ivy-League. But the movement it did support, like running and jumping, improved considerably. Hopping around the workbenches and doing slaloms around them while pelting the dummy with everything she got, Flora got used to the changes.

    She measured her output with chain punches again with octopussy and turrets. This time she reached 140 DPS.

    \"Wow! I didn''t expect so much more.\"

    \"The limiting factor was your mech-suit ability. You raised it considerably in the last hours.\"

    \"What do you both say now about using the mech-suit? Don''t forget to include the increased defense and extra-hitpoints in your evaluation.\"

    \"Beep.\" Aito sounded a bit sad but determined.

    \"The loadout is superior, Milady. The Mini-Masters and I hadn''t included in our consideration your ability levels are superior to theirs. The stat increases from mech-suits scale with the ability and its quality instead of level.\"

    \"Beep.\" Aito agreed and showed a picture of the octopus at level 10 with a huge arrow upwards.

    \"You think we should reevaluate the loadout at level 10? Remind me of it, dear.\"

    After training more and watching a few PvP duels in her jacuzzi, Flora got ready for bed.

    \"Tomorrow, we build meaner traps for Aidan,\" she muttered while clutching a pillar of plastic-stone. Aidan had his commands to refine it overnight.

    The ringing of her phone woke her up.

    \"Yeah?\" she mumbled.

    \"Ma? Thank you so much for the dope jack. Do you have more of them?\"

    \"What? Yes, I do. But the supply is limited if I value my body.\"

    \"Hu? Never mind. I would take three more of them, only if you can spare them, of course. But it''s not why I''ve called. We got a big job from noon to midnight, and I need Ressa for it.\"

    \"But what about our duel?\"

    \"You can do it now, or tomorrow or you let it be. I would prefer the last option.\"

    \"Oh, dear. Give me an hour.\" Flora glanced at her clock. It showed half-past seven. \"Make it two hours.\"

    Flora jumped out of her bed. She wanted to integrate two additional changes into the mech-suit. The first was to exchange the materials for the ones she had refined overnight.

    The second consisted of giving the suit a shiny gloss. What is the bane of laser weapons? Mirrors! Flora had tested it, and it reflected a good part of the power of lasers. She had employed the coating on the trap-throwing-toaster and made Aidan play pong to train reflecting things.

    At last, she ordered the print of the enhanced mech-suit and enough rockets to flatten a village.

    Theoretically, she had enough time to invent new traps, but she chose to fight conjured monsters in the SG to warm up and adjust her mindset.

    Of course, she notified Eddie and Mia of the time change.

    \"Do you know it''s freaking 5 o''clock in the freaking morning?\" Eddie complained while diving out of bed.

    \"I didn''t choose to change the appointment.\" They bantered until Eddie was ready, and Flora at least felt prepared.

    \"Let''s go over the oh-shit fallback once more,\" Flora said to Aidan after hanging up.

    \"Milady, what will you do if you panic?\"

    \"I''ll cast Bless and Condemn.\"

    \"What will you do instead of freezing?\"

    \"I''ll cast Bless and Condemn.\"

    \"What will you do if you don''t know what to do?\"

    \"I''ll cast Bless and Condemn.\"

    \"What will you do when looking around?\"

    \"I''ll cast Bless and Condemn.\"

    Yesterday, she had focused on casting it in all positions and while multitasking. She had analyzed her spells and picked one she profited under every condition. On some occasions, it might be wise to push for all the damage; on others, it would be more beneficial to heal. For judging, she needed a clear head. Bless and Condemn was the filler when the events clocked her mind - her fallback for shit hitting the fan.

    After checking her stats once, her whole equipment twice, and her quick access-slots thrice (Rockets, Traps, Mana- and Health-Potions), she ported to the Clan Riverstones.

 80 80. THE DUEL - ROUND ONE

    Flora jogged to the battle ring on the Clan Riverstones compound. It looked like another bamboo hut on the outside, but inside was a 25-meter big ring surrounded by benches. During their tour a few days ago, Lana had explained they used it for duels but also performances and seminars.

    Speaking of Lana, she waited on the entrance of the hut together with a chubby brown-haired woman, who was a good head smaller than Flora.

    \"Hello, Auntie Flow. You are early. All excited about the duel?\"

    \"Hi, Lana. Actually, I''m running late.\"

    Flora explained the situation, and Lana introduced her to the other woman after she suffered an elbow to her side. Her name was Honeystream Land, she was married to Lana and assisted her with the administrative issues of the clan.

    \"I heard so much of you. I''m happy to meet you finally,\" Honey said with a little giggle. \"Thank you for everything you have done for the jerkies, especially Lana.\"

    While they chatted, Robby and Hub joined them.

    \"Please keep the commentary civil, Lana. I''m keyed up as it is.\" Robby ordered.

    Flora gave him a quick hug and kiss. Her poor boy looked stressed. Now she felt guilty for foisting the duel on him. She consoled herself that mastering conflicts strengthened relationships.

    \"I make sure of it, Boss,\" Honey promised.

    \"Ressa seems to be-\" Lana began, but Honey put her hand over her mouth, proving her commitment.

    Tigressa was nowhere in sight. However, Mia and Eddie arrived. Mia gave a polite nod, while Eddie hugged Robby and knocked on his bald head.

    \"What were you thinking, young man? Getting eloped? Not telling your mother and your favorite uncle about life-changing decisions!\" Eddie ranted. \"Not to forget about making me get up in the middle of the night!\"

    Silently, Flora cheered him on; only her gleeful smile gave her away.

    \"You have already chewed me out before, Uncle Eddie. Please have mercy. I know I''m in the wrong, and I should have told both of you sooner. I just thought how precious life is because Mum almost killed herself in a fire... I mulled it over for some time but then seized the moment to propose.\"

    Struck, Flora didn''t know what to think. Robby proposed because of her? She hadn''t put the thing on a specific date; she had just assumed he had hidden it for a while. The revelation that she found out soon after it had happened was a game-changer. The last bits of lingering anger evaporated.

    \"I forgive you.\" She blurted out.

    \"Really, and no bringing it up the next time, you are miffed?\"

    \"You deny me all the fun!\"

    The group laughed, and Flora saw some tension leaving Robby''s shoulders.

    The bass sound of Ressa''s bike announced her arrival. This time, she stopped at a polite distance.

    \"Quite an audience,\" she said instead of a greeting.

    Honey covered Lana''s mouth again, some nodded, and Robby walked to her, but Eddie beat him to her.

    \"Hello, dear. I''m Eddie, I''m Robby''s uncle and practically raised him. So nice to finally meet you.\"

    Ressa smiled at him and shook his hand, but hurried to Robby''s side, snuggling to him.

    \"You did a great job. I like the result.\" Petting Robby''s chest, she smiled at Eddie as they exchanged pleasantries.

    Flora felt like puking. ''I raised Robby! I achieved great results! Robby is mine, mine, mine! And don''t you dare to charm Eddie as well!''

    With exercising all her willpower, Flora concentrated on breathing. She stared at the floor, not daring to look up and give away her rage.

    ''Calm down. Calm down. You want Robby to find a partner. You want grandkids. And if you descended into a hissy fit, every time Eddie smiled at somebody, you would have died of a heart attack a long time ago. They love you. They love me. Everything else is white noise.''

    Flora''s gaze wandered to the Octopussy at her feet. It displayed a lake with gently moving water, which further calmed her down. But then a long tentacle appeared and reached out to the shore. It picked up a ginger tabby cat and dunked it into the water.

    A low growl notified Flora of Ahoncathyr watching. She snorted.

    \"Play nice, Aito. But thank you for cheering me up.\"

    \"Beep.\"

    \"Let''s get this farce rolling,\" Robby grumbled and led the group inside.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    ~~~ Tigressa Flameante

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Ressa felt uncomfortable with the assembled group. No need to talk about Lana, she hated her.

    She had issues with Hub, as well, because Robby spent too much time with him. She should be Robby''s number one priority!

    Then, there was the mousy kiddie who had smashed her in a duel. Ressa was sure the girl was fishy. Besides, the advantages people got from the kiddie server were unfair!

    While Ressa was thankful for the smiling face of Robby''s uncle, she didn''t trust him. Robby had told her he was an actor. Maybe he wanted to lull her and then backstab her on behalf of her future mother-in-law. His outfit integrated a skin of a raging maelstrom. Clearly, it was a message to her and her pet. Water was their nemesis.

    And at last, there was the mother-in-law. Robby had bungled up their first meeting, but she didn''t give him a hard time about it. Most of it was Lana''s fault anyway.

    When meeting Flora today, the hag hadn''t looked up. Probably, she was frightened out of her mind as it was proper for a B-rated newbie.

    Ressa had spent the whole morning thinking about how to conduct the duel. Of course, she couldn''t let the hag win, Lana would never allow her to see the end of it. But maybe by pretending it was a challenging fight instead of the massacre it ought to be, she could score some points with the monster-in-law and Robby.

    In the PvP-Antechamber, she checked her outfit in a full-length mirror. The orange leather cat-suit suited her orange hair and emphasized the red and yellow strands in it. The color would make a European look pale but harmonized well with her golden skin color.

    \"Don''t underestimate them, little one. The squid smells dangerous.\" Anhoncarthyr growled. \"I''ll take care of it. Distract Flowing Flowers until I have finished it off.\"

    Ressa snorted. \"Distract her? I''ll kill her myself.\"

    \"Look at her antechamber.\"

    The screen blurred the details, but Ressa could see a lot of reflecting surfaces.

    \"Mirrors!\"

    Frantically, she searched in her inventory for her plasma rifles and guns. Naturally, she carried a backup for enemies resistant to her usual laser load out. But the plasma equipment was level 200 and only B rated. When it got squeezed down the rating stayed the same. She lost a good chunk of damage per shot in contrast to her level 1 S-rated equipment.

    \"Good move, hag. Good move. I wonder who told you about that trick... \"

    The timer reached zero just when she had put everything in place.

    After she ported to the floor, she immediately activated stealth and dived to her right. Laying on her stomach, she aimed her rifle at the hag¡ªthree seconds to go for Aimed Shot.

    The granny was running towards Ahoncarthyr at full speed. She had to suppress a snicker. Not only was Ahoncarthyr shielding her from stray shots, but it also presented her with an easy target because she positioned herself behind him.

    Something flew into her direction. She hadn''t any time to understand what it was before it exploded.

    The shockwave rattled her, and she lost sight of the hag for just a second. The next thing she saw was a wave crashing into her and then a foot hitting her face.

    \"You are defeated.\" The clan AI, Camus, announced.

    \"You have to-\" She wanted to demand revenge from Ahoncarthyr, but got interrupted.

    \"First round winner: Flowing Flowers.\"

    \"You are dead? \" Ressa snapped at the tiger. \" How can this be? I gave you the mana to raise you to sergeant, and what do I get for it? Nothing! I might be better off if I switch to a hero-players style.\"

    \"Silence!\"

    \"And don''t tell me what to do! I''m the boss!\"

    \"So what do you suggest for round two, boss.\" His voice laced with mockery, Ahoncarthyr flicked his tail.

    Only now, it sank in. She had been defeated without dealing a single point of damage to the hag. Before she had lost sight of the tiger, he was a few meters away from the enemy camp and directly in front of the hag.

    \"Did she, did you...\" Ressa didn''t bring it over herself to ask if it was a perfect victory for Flora, a complete victory without having lost a single health point.

    \"We have 22 seconds left until the next round. Listen to me-\"

    \"I quit!\" Ressa screeched. \"I''ve never been so humiliated all my life!\"

    \"If you quit, I will leave you forever.\"

    \"You can''t bail on me! I have tamed you!\"

    \"I''m a boss level tiger. There is a limit to the cowardice, incompetence, disloyalty, and arrogance I''m forced to endure. By the way, you already claimed on several prior occasions to have reached a new highpoint in humiliation. At least two of them have been worse.\"

    \"We do it your way.\" Ressa gritted her teeth.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    ~~~ RadBear Stone - Hub

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    The clan-mates had placed themselves on the benches in the middle of the circle around the arena.

    Hub arrived late but managed to get a seat next to Lana. He enjoyed seeing her getting mistreated by her wife.

    As the countdown ticked down to zero, he had to yawn. Last night had been too long, with preparing for the big job today. He hadn''t gotten enough shut-eye.

    When he looked back at the arena, he saw a mech-suit riding on a wave and Ahoncarthy dying in the spray.

    He rubbed his eyes.

    Now, he saw the timer ticking again.

    \"I just had a crazy vision. Auntie Flora was drowning Ahoncathyr.\" He chuckled. \"Oh, man. When is the duel finally going to start? This timer ticks forever.\"

    Silence. Nobody but the new recruit looked at him or reacted in any way to his dope vision. Lana tried to say something, but Honey had covered her mouth.

    \"Ey, guys?\"

    Lana struggled but was unable to respond.

    \"Shut up,\" Rob said. His voice was devoid of any emotion.

    \"What? Can''t a paladin have a vision now and then? But a bit strange it was about the duel, maybe because Auntie is a champion?\"

    \"It wasn''t a vision, dolt. Mama decimated Ressa in under 10 seconds.\"

    \"7.3 seconds to be precise.\" Honey chimed in cheerfully.

    \"At least you caught the best part.\" Eddie consoled him. \"Flora looked fabulous, riding the wave in her shiny armor, like a water goddess soaring from the sea to extinguish the fires of the world. When she was on top of the tiger, and the laser beams from her turrets converged onto him, she resembled a shooting star; as if the turret''s shots were lights trailing her. I want to write a poem about it!\"

    \"Flora caving in Ressa''s face with a kick was my highlight,\" Mia said.

    The gagged Lana flashed her a thumbs up.

    Hub vowed to keep his eyes open in the next round.

    \"From a technical standpoint, the little octopus was the most valued player of the bout. It generated more than half of the entire damage.\" Honey had used her right hand to aggregate the data. With half of her shackles occupied, Lana managed to free herself from the other hand and could finally join the conversation.

    \"Your mother is awesome. Lana can''t-\" Honey recaptured her mouth.

    Robby groaned. \"Is anybody rooting for my fianc¨¦e?\"

    Mia simply shook her head, Honey regretfully, Lana tried to, Eddie as a matter of course, and Hub while shrugging.

    Robby covered his face with both hands, \"I''m not even sure if I do,\" he whispered.

    The countdown hit zero, and the second round started.

 81 81. THE DUEL - ROUND TWO

    Flora found herself back in the antechamber.

    "That went quite well. Good job, everyone."

    No joy tinged Flora''s voice. From the perspective of someone who just wanted to win, the round went perfectly, but from the viewpoint of someone who wanted her son to have a competent partner, abysmal.

    All cooldowns had reset, so Flora reapplied the buffs.

    Buff: Tinkered: Improves the Macro-Control by 5 OV; time remaining: 10 min;

    Last round, she cast it on herself and got a bit mana-reg for it. This time, she tried it on the toaster.

    Buff: Touched by Divinity (Evailyn): 50% reduced Cooldowns; time remaining: 5 min;

    "Nice. Much more useful."

    Right before the countdown ran out, she cast Water Shield to get the full duration of 25 seconds of it during fight-time. The splash effect of her new focus activated, and around one of the turret-traps formed a watery layer.

    As soon as her feet hit the arena floor, Flora sprinted towards Ressa''s spawn point.

    Something ran in her direction. Her brain needed a second to process the sight: Ressa had strapped a full-length mirror on the back of the tiger. With the cat''s head down, the mirror shielded it from frontal laserbeams.

    "Finally, a good move. Take the flanks. Turret-Trap 1-2 left, Turret-Trap 3-4 right." commanded Flora while sending a rocket to it. "And where is Ressa?"

    Even after activating the spell, Flora couldn''t find her. Almost she forgot to initiate the explosion, but a beep from Aito reminded her.

    "Behind the tiger, Milady."

    The rocket detonated above the tiger and cracked the mirror.

    The explosion masked the incoming plasma slugs from Flora, which whizzed by next to her head. For a second, she was elated because they missed, but then two of her turrets went out.

    "At least, now I know Ressa''s position."

    Both opponents glowed orange and red with the Fire Enhancement buff. It caused all of their attacks to deal additional fire damage.

    "They need dousing."

    !

    Flora positioned the spell to hit Ressa as well as the tiger.

    Then, hell broke loose.

    The Arena exploded in fiery lights, and detonations assaulted Flora''s eardrums. Even the ground shook.

    When Flora could see again, the area she was covering with Acid Rain was empty. Ressa had cartwheeled out of it, and stood, both guns extended, next to the wet patch.

    Her gaze met Ressa''s. The will to fight with no regrets shone in her eyes.

    They were the only two combatants standing. While Ahoncartyr picked himself up from the ground, the octopussy resumed firing after being flung back by the explosion.

    The only other robot still working was the trap toaster. It threw a final trap before Ressa''s next shot killed it. In one smooth motion, the woman turned around and sent the next fiery slug flying into Flora''s direction.

    A skull appeared above Ressa''s head?Aito''s signal to focus all attacks on her.

    Flora cast Acid Bolt right when Ahoncarthyr pounced. She went down under his weight, but the spell left her hand, hitting him instead of the markswomen.

    Seven hundred pounds of burning tiger squashed Flora. Her mech-suit creaked in protest, while her body struggled under the crushing weight. The grappling training kicked in, and she tried to find a chokehold.

    Ahoncarthyor wouldn''t let her. With a paw on Flora''s torso, he opened his jaws to bite off her face.

    Primal fear coursed through Flora. Staring into the gaping maw of the beast, all conscious thoughts left her mind. On instinct, Flora extended her arm to ward of his teeth.

    A stream of acid water singed the tiger''s head and neck, but still, his jaws closed around the next best target, Flora''s arm. The teeth breached the thick hull of the mech-suit and penetrated it.

    Without the suit, Flora would have lost her hand. She was sure of it. The little human-body icon with a red-blinking forearm and hand on her HUD agreed with her. Flora had lost the use of her right arm and with it the access to the Wavering Wave-Ring.

    The display had often appeared in the Jiu-Jitsu lessons when people misjudged their strength, or Flora forgot to tap. First, the feeling of trying to move one''s own limb and nothing happening had disconcerted Flora, but over time, she had gotten used to it. Nonetheless, the last bit of awkwardness never went away.

    While Flora struggled with the tiger, Ressa used it as cover against Aito''s shots while pelting Flora with burning slugs.

    "So, they believe I''m a softer target than my octopus?" Flora thought. She bent her legs, with her feet between her and the cat.

    The mechanical muscles of the suit contracted added by her real muscles. Then the legs straightened with her boots hitting Ahoncarthyr in the stomach.

    The kick catapulted the tiger in the air.

    Flora used the remaining momentum to get up.

    Although Ressa''s hail of bullets had never stopped striking Flora, the skull had switched to Ahoncarthyr.

    Aito had moved in, concentrating all the action in the middle of the arena. Flora used the chance to bolster her depleted HP pool and shredded suit and, at the same time hurting the opponents.

    !

    The tiger had landed on all fours?futile, to hope for a cat to crash into the ground.

    The old internet meme sneaked in Flora''s mind. "Maybe I should have built a sticky-butter-toast-throwing-toaster. With a buttered bread on his back, there would be a good probability of the tiger crash-landing or staying suspended in the air."

    A roar rocked the arena.

    Flora''s body shuddered, the whole mini body-display glowing red. Incapacitated, she could only look around to assess the situation: Ressa was dead, good so far. Aito''s HP was full, but she was cowering as well. The tiger had seen better days; the acid had burned off patches of fur. And Flora''s health bar was half empty.

    Even with her body quivering, her mouth was grinning. She felt great about the situation until the tiger pounced on her again.

    Without the use of her muscles to compensate, she hit the floor hard.

    Gathering all her magic, she pressed another Bless and Condemn out of her shaking left hand as the tiger swiped her head with its burning paw.

    Light Concussion: - 2 OV to all skills and abilities, - 4 OV to magic - 8 OV to perception. Time remaining: 10 sec.

    Flora didn''t want to know the consequences if she hadn''t obtained the trait Hard-Headed.

    The red glow around the mini-body vanished. Losing no time, Flora dove away.

    The tiger chased.

    Flora came up with a kick on his snout, and he vanished.

    Panting Flora stood in the middle of the arena and looked around for more opponents, her sight still blurry from the concussion.

    "Congratulation, you won the second round and the match," a voice said, but Flora didn''t listen. The adrenalin still pumped through her veins.

    A group of people approached.

    !

    "Ma!"

    "Flora! My new outfit!"

    Only now, it dawned on Flora that the duel was over.

    "Uh, sorry," she mumbled and sat down where she stood in the middle of the arena ring on the sandy floor.

    Robby and Eddie ran to her, the others followed. Their concerned voices rang in Flora''s ears. Flora tried to reassure them, but she had difficulties speaking and was shaking.

    "So, that''s how it is!" Ressa''s sharp voice broke through the noise. "I lose, and SHE gets consoled."

    She turned around and left for the exit.

    "Ressa!" Robby exclaimed. His head snapped between her and Flora back and forth. "Ma... "

    "Go, sweety. I''m fine. It''s just the adrenalin leaving my system."

    Robby''s index finger appeared in front of her nose.

    "How many-"

    "One too many." She smiled at him as he followed Ressa. Her answer would also be valid if he had asked how many fiancees he had. The girl hadn''t left a good impression on her.

    Slowly, she picked herself up.

    "Good fight, Auntie," Mia said.

    "Ey, just awesome! This and that and letting the tiger fly! Woooow! I didn''t know you had in you!" Hub shadowboxed, but then paused. "I mean, I totally knew you had it in you! My instincts warned me a long time ago. Oh no, the sentence came out wrong. Auntie, you know I deeply respect you, right?"

    "Right." Flora had no patience to deal with Hub or anyone at the moment. "Thank you for supporting me. Now, I need a good long soak in my jacuzzi."

    Flora managed to lose the crowd, but Eddie stuck to her like a parrot to his pirate.

    When Flora didn''t respond to his attempts at conversation, he worked on his poem.

    "The queen riding on a wave, this is the image I crave."

    They walked to the teleportation circle of the clan Riverstones.

    "No, no, better: The queen riding on a wave, all the fabulousness I crave."

    From the church''s circle, they went to Flora''s apartment.

    "The queen riding on a wave, making the tiger her slave."

    Flora programed the Treadmill-Tunnel for metal resistance training.

    "The Queen riding on a wave, my heart is hers to save."

    In the workshop, she programed the dummy to hit Eddie extra hard while he fiddled with the copy features of the simulation grounds.

    "The queen riding on a wave, escaping peril with a close shave!"

    She didn''t want to be in Deriga''s dingy workshop and flopped in the hotpot of the unholy cliff.

    "The queen riding on a wave, oh what a beating to Ressa she gave."

    "The queen riding on a wave, putting Eddie in an early grave." Flora joined in.

    "You don''t mind if I skinny-dip, love?"

    "Feel free." Flora put her underwear in her inventory, too. She didn''t even know why she had bothered to leave it on.

    (Flora to Aidan:)"Pixel out his junk. I''ve already seen it more times in my life than I care for."

    "Virtual reality is awesome." She said out loud. Finally, she could enjoy a nice soak with a friend without getting distracted by dangling bits.

    "Maybe you should dial it back a bit."

    "Nonsense. I admit the first time I came down from an adrenalin high, I panicked a bit, but I logged out, and my vitals were almost normal."

    "It had happened before?" Eddie fetched a rubber duck wearing an eyepatch and bandana from his bag of copied things.

    "Sure."

    "Flora, dear-"

    "Oh, come on. I''m having fun. There is a part in me I have denied all these years?"

    "The sexy part."

    "No, the bloody part! I enjoy hitting people. I enjoy the excitement of competing."

    "I''d always thought Robby got his fighting drive from his father. Guess I was wrong." He fetched a second rubber duck, this time with a cocked hat and a parrot.

    Flora nodded. "I thought the same. His father was a soldier, after all."

    "Which duck do you want?"

    "You are the captain, so I''ll take the bandana."

    Eddie grinned satisfied and said in a quacking voice: "Ye wants t'' color th'' sea in blood, sailor?"

    "Aye, captain!" Flora replied, making her duck nod. She tried her best to emulate Eddie''s cadence but had to giggle. "Quack!"

    They played for a while, fought some Viking ducks, a hulk duck, and a zombie duck (Eddie had an endless supply), a huge tentacled monster (Aito), and discovered a treasure island (Flora''s emergency box).

 82 82. DOOM MOON FOUR - ENGINES

    After Eddie left, Flora didn''t know what to do.

    Robby had called her, but he was in a hurry. It might be because of the job or because Flora and Eddie were naked during the video chat. He had covered both eyes with his hand and kept the conversation short.

    In her mind, the duel-thingy had occupied the whole Sunday one. In the evening, they had planned to celebrate with a banquet. Robby had postponed to tomorrow because of the big job. The Riverstones carried a bunch of company executives through the instance Mia had found.

    Nothing hindered Flora from doing her Hero''s Entrance now. She was concerned about Deriga. The sooner she would visit Evailyn''s temple, the sooner she could investigate why the novice had yet to return.

    On the other hand, she could do a few more of the recommended scenarios before it. Sharpening the ax never increases the woodworking time.

    Or save Jake and the Doom Moon. She had delayed the Doom Moon for too long. The more she thought about it, the more she wanted to conclude the scenario before she concentrated on the Cradle.

    "We are going to save the Doom Moon!"

    Flora was still affected by the duel. She winced when hearing sudden noises, and her senses were on hyper-alert. Therefore she first settled the dailies and martial arts and then took a nap.

    It worked wonders. Her mind cleared up. Now, she could process the technical aspects of the duel.

    The turrets were fine, but she never had time to activate their skill Rapid Fire. They only produced around 17 damage every 2 seconds; Rapid Fire would quadruple this amount.

    After she messed with the software without satisfying results, she gave up and bought an S-rated software suit.

    "Aidan, remind me not to skimp on equipment."

    She added a mana-battery to all the turrets, a prerequisite for casting skills. Several times, she mixed up which type of turret she was working on, so she color-coded them, dark green for healing with Rapid Fire, light green for healing with Healing Cloud, and dark red for laser with Rapid Fire.

    This time she started the scenario from the simulation grounds. She wanted to find out how the inventory worked.

    The list of spells she could use during the scenario had grown considerably: All kinetic, ice, metal and lightning mage spells, technomancer skills, and almost all skills from the technology branch.

    Flora kept the dinner-scene short but enjoyed seeing the blockhead Jake and his cute daughter again.

    Before she met the forewoman, Elma Phen, she took out the octopussy.

    Magical Regeneration: 32 OV

    Mechanics: 29 OV

    Electronics: 27 OV

    Smithing: 19 OV

    "Impressive stats. Have you worked on turrets before?"

    "Yes, but I would like to work on the engines."

    "Oh well, you definitely qualify. How about you do a good job on the generators, and I might advance you."

    The octopussy got a datapad and multitool, as well. Flora regretted not bringing out a few more robots.

    When she met Clyde again, she hugged him and couldn''t let go. Of course, she was glad to meet Handy and Forky, too, but experiencing the Icemaster halve the little R2D2-Knockoff had left a mark on her heart.

    "I will go to HR if you continue disrespecting my personal boundaries," Clyde complained.

    Flora stopped the hug and patted him affectionately on the head.

    The generator-quests were the same as on Flora''s last visit. She completed them in record time.

    Finally, her surroundings changed from black corridors to a spherical hall. Cupboards with glowing wires lined the walls, and in the center, an energy cloud wobbled behind security glass.

    Sweating engineers and technicians worked on the machines. The temperature was hot enough to bake eggs on the metal surfaces.

    Quest: Repair Engine S20R03 on the Doom Moon

    Possible rewards: Bonus crafting XP

    Possible Penalties: Degradation

    Difficulty: A

    "I bet on heat damage," Flora stated while scanning the engine.

    "No takers," said Clyde.

    The diagnose report agreed.

    Flora fixed the damage and then added the rune-scheme the old technician had taught her at the Garage.

    It worked beyond well. The machine was now the coldest place in the whole room¡ªeven a soft draft formed with the contracting cooled air, making space for the hot air.

    Completed quest: Repair Engine S20R03 on the Doom Moon

    Reward: Bonus crafting XP

    Difficulty: A

    Completion: S

    The other technicians took notice, and a crowd started to form. Flora explained her solution.

    Scientists and engineers differed in that you didn''t have to convince the latter. A useful feature is self-evident.

    In no time, Flora and the others remodeled all the engines in the room.

    "Great job, Flowers." Elma Phens trunk swang through the now cooling air.

    "Thanks, boss. What about the shafts for heat dispersion? We don''t need them anymore. We should close them ASAP. They are a security risk in case of an attack."

    "Sure, sure. But first, we have a birthday to celebrate."

    The scene vanished, and the birthday party quest appeared.

    "Not good. We have to patch the shafts before the attack. Do we have their locations, Aidan?"

    "No, Milady."

    "Let''s hack."

    This time Flora established a connection to Elma Phen''s datapad via her Technomancer skills. Flora thought it was poetic justice because the forewoman had to take responsibility for prioritizing a birthday party higher than the safety of her people.

    Aidan and Aitoshuri used their hacking ability to gain access to it while Flora made small talk with the other party guests.

    Elma had all the necessary data. Six engine rooms existed, and each one had three heat dispersion systems. Five of the engine rooms currently refitted them, only Elma''s room had fallen behind because the crew partied.

    The good news was they were all in the same sector within 5 flight minutes from each other.

    "We need materials for the patches and a means of transport. If we wait until the attack, all jets will be taken. Plan the shortest route from here to a warehouse to the hangar. Place the orders for the materials and add some multitools."

    "Hey, Auntie Flow." Jake stumbled towards her and put his arm around her for balance. "Look, my little Hope called me daddy."

    The hologram with Elena and Hope played.

    "That''s great. Let''s talk some other time. I have things to steal." Flora tried to get away, but Jake wouldn''t let her go. His arm hugged her shoulder like a steel brace.

    "Auntie, Auntie, I have to show you something amazing."

    First, Flora contemplated giving the dolt an impromptu Jiu-Jitsu lesson, but then she caved. She guessed going to the trophy room was one of the events you couldn''t skip. And the meditation chamber was a spaceship; maybe it would be the easiest solution to borrow it.

    "Alright, show me, but we have to hurry, dear."

    Flora had to remind him several times to make haste. Only after they entered a warehouse on the way and Flora filled her inventory with thick metal sheets and over a hundred multitools, it dawned to him Flora had something urgent to do, and he increased his speed.

    The trophy room was as horrifying as Flora remembered it.

    "Auntie Flow, do you think we are the good guys? Lady Mnoder is one of the most respected generals of the empire, and she sure as hell doesn''t behave like it." Jake''s big blue eyes shone with seriousness.

    "Jake, I''ll be honest with you. I watched all the routines, and none of them showed a situation where you could judge her character. The context is missing."

    "What do you mean by you watched all of them?"

    "I''ve been here before."

    "Haha, and I thought I was the only noisy snooper."

    Flora smiled at him.

    "Milady, Lady Mnoder incoming in 1 minute."

    One minute was not enough time to steal the spaceship.

    "But we have the chance to evaluate her character for our selves. She is coming."

    Jakes''s mouth opened, but no speech exited. His head whipped around, searching for a hiding spot, but his body remained frozen.

    Flora positioned herself close to the elevator but not close enough to be mistaken for an attacker. She considered raising Energy Shield right from the get-go but refrained because of the same reason. However, she held the spell close to her fingertips, ready to release at an instance.

    Finally, the elevator doors opened. Lady Mnoder''s presence filled the room.

    "Hello, Lady Mnoder." Flora took the initiative. "I have an urgent request."

    "What are you doing in my sanctuary?" The clad in red woman snapped her hand in Flora''s direction.

    \u003cEnergy Shield\u003e!

    Jake jumped in surprise as the lightning tendrils clashed with Flora''s shield.

    "Now, I''m mildly interested in what you have to say."

    Flora couldn''t gauge her facial expressions because of the red facemask, reminiscent of a respirator from world war I. At least she sounded intrigued.

    "I have a hunch the Doom moon will be attacked soon. I''m working in engineering, and we have a security risk with open shafts leading to the volatile machines. I need a spacecraft to fix it. Now."

    "Nice story. So you are just a run of the mill technician who happens to wield the most mysterious Energy in the galaxy. What about your companion, just another technician who happens to be an Energymaster?"

    Jake shook his head so fast Flora feared it would fall off.

    "Well, as an engineer, I wield and tame multiple of the fascinating energies in the universe," Flora replied thoughtfully.

    The lady pulled a crystal out of her pocket and held it in front of Jake. "Grab it with your bare hand."

    With wide eyes, Jake inched towards the artifact. When he touched it, the crystal erupted in multicolored lights.

    "Great talent for kinetics, mediocre for ice, decent for lightning and magnetism. Definitely, blessed by the Energy."

    "That''s all great, but could you please postpone your mother-son bonding moment? We''ve got a moon to save." As soon as the words had left her mouth, Flora realized she messed up. Her brain had somehow connected to the last time Mnoder tested Jake when she already knew it was her son.

    Mnoder and Jake stared at her with the same angle on their tilted heads.

    "I''m just a senile old lady, don''t mind me and my chatter. Let''s go."

    The beeping of Mnoder''s datapad unburdened Flora from their gazes.

    "Speak!"

    "The terrorist started the attack on Doom Moon, Lady Mnoder. A fleet of 1000 destroyers arrived."

    "Very good. I''m on my way." Lady Mnoder glanced at Flora and Jake before returning into the elevator. "And you two will follow me."

    Quest: Secure the ventilation shafts on the Doom Moon

    Possible rewards: Bonus crafting XP, hidden

    Possible Penalties: End of Scenario, Death

    Time limit: 45 min

    Difficulty: A

    "I have all the materials ready. We can start immediately," said Flora while pushing the still frozen Jake into the cabin.

    "Maybe we''ll start in the interrogation chamber."

    "If you want to risk the Doom Moon and everybody on it, sure go ahead. We can have a nice long chat and die together during it."

    Lady Mnoder replied with a cross of a snort and harrumph. While marching, she communicated with a few people, including Elma Phen.

    When Flora''s story checked out, or at least some parts of it, she sent her to the hangar and pulled Jake with her. Flora tried to convince Mnoderer she needed him for the repairs, but the Lady didn''t budge.

    "I thought we are all going to die soon. Didn''t you wanted to do something against it?"

    "I''m sorry," Flora said to Jake. The poor boy was still in shock and didn''t hear her.

    Flora ran to the hangar. Remorse softened her knees, but she had to soldier on. ''There is always the next attempt; you don''t have to sweat it. Maybe it''s even for the best they found each other.''

    Concentrating on her breathing and speed, she arrived in no time.

    A bulky shuttle awaited her: no weapons, shitty plating, and no hyperdrive.

    Flora inserted Aidan into the controls.

    "How much time do we have for each repair."

    "We won''t make it, Milady. The spacecraft is to slow."

    "Hack the system and remove any software limiters on speed, dear. I''ll take care of the hardware."

    Flora dashed to the engine and removed the panel protecting it. She loosened valves, gouged bottlenecks, and increased the pressure. In short, she did everything the safety manual said not to do.

    The diagnosis software on her datapad glowed yellow with warnings when she finished.

    \u003cTinker\u003e!

    Buff: Tinkered: Improves the Physical Power by 5 OV; time remaining: 10 min;

    Aidan couldn''t assess the extent of the mods without testing them, so they started the flight.

    Flora''s eyes darted between the engine and her datapad. As soon as a red issue appeared, Flora fixed it.

    She couldn''t repair the engine while it ran, so duct tape functioned as the primary support.

    More and more panels vanished in Flora''s inventory as she needed access to the different parts of the machine.

    She delegated watching the diagnosis program to Aidan and fanning the increasingly hot motor to the octopussy. It hung from the ceiling on two tentacles, used another two to fan the dry hot air and the rest for repairs.

    Whenever the cooldowns ran out, Flora cast Hurry Up and Nitro on the shuttle.

    Between curtailing the worst messes and flinging spells, she engraved runes against overheating.

 83 83. DOOM MOON FOUR â€“ PATCHING

    "Estimated time of arrival to the first exhaustion shaft: 1 minute, Milady."

    Flora switched into her mech-suit.

    "What is the temperature difference to the outside? Do we risk exploding the overheated engines when we open the door?"

    "23 degrees, Milady. 42% chance to damage the systems, a 2% chance of destroying them."

    Better than Flora expected, but still not odds she wanted to take.

    "I''m going to spray Frost Breath in the air. Aito, distribute the cold slowly."

    This measure, combined with gradually opening the airlock, reduced the damage to a minimum.

    Aidan landed them right next to the shaft. Flora sprang out of the shuttle and bolted thick metal sheets over the entry point to the ventilation system.

    "Next! How''s the estimated time looking?"

    "Very good compared to before, Milady. Patching all the shafts is now mathematically possible."

    Flora speed-substituted the broken parts of the shuttle, for which she could improvise replacements. Then they flew to the next ventilation system.

    Flora scribbled more anti-heat, durability, and fortifying rune-schemes.

    Aito joined her. She wrote the schemes on duct tape and stuck them to the machines according to Flora''s instructions.

    While it was a known fact that writing rune-schemes was an art, which a robot could never fully emulate, Flora thought differently. Machines executed a lot of crafts, people claimed could never be automated like weaving or painting. She put more significance into placing the rune-schemes.

    With Diagnosis, she monitored the whole shuttle and counter-pressured, pushed, and pulled via Telekinesis.

    Because Flora had removed the majority of the floor for easy access to the machinery, moving became adventurous. She envied the octopussy for its ability to dangle from the ceiling.

    The enemy activity aggravated the situation. Aidan had to fly evasive maneuvers, which shook the shuttle and its passengers.

    "I bet my acrobatics ability is rising," mumbled Flora. One of her feet she wedged in a handhold on the wall, the leg kneed on the floor, her shoulder pressed on the rim of the machines access while her hands and magic tinkered.

    "One fighter-jet is trailing us, Milady. We are under attack."

    "Aito, deal with it."

    The octopus exited through the airlock. She pinged Flora for Overload Built-In Skill, and Flora cast it through the link. It worked fine, even without sight and a good layer of metal between them.

    "Please narrate what is happening outside."

    "Aitoshuri currently is peppering the fighter with laserbeams. She hit its left rocket system. The jet is returning fire-"

    The shuttle shook.

    "And destroyed our back gate. The octopussy is still hanging on the remains."

    "Oh, dear." Flora had hit her head hard, the helmet protected her it, but the impact knocked back her neck. She rubbed her nape, a futile gesture because of the mech-suit. "How close is the jet? Can I use technomancy on it?"

    "Its 100 meters away. The rules for big vehicle fight extend the range of weapons, but not skills. Your marksperson skills work because you are casting them through your rocket launcher. I recommend-"

    The shuttle shook again and lurched.

    "The octopussy lost three tentacles and one of its lasters. The left thruster lost functionality. We have to land. Milady, the word "land" might be a euphemism."

    \u003cDiagnose\u003e!

    The shot squashed the hull surrounding the thruster, jamming the nozzle. If Aidan used it, the chances were high it would explode.

    "Bring us down as gentle as possible." Flora grabbed a support beam with both hands and knees to prevent tumbling through the cabin like the rolls of duct tape.

    "Too bad, no crafting spells are working in this scenario." Flora would have loved to use Repair or even Cluster Maintainance. Suddenly she had an idea.

    \u003cRe-Charge: Shuttle\u003e!

    She banked on the unique effect of her multitool:

    Effect: Healing spells repair technological devices too. (Only for believers of Evailyn)

    "Is it working?"

    "No, Milady. The shuttle has no Physical Regeneration."

    \u003cHuman Machine Connection: Shuttle\u003e!

    "Now, it should, right? This spell adds some of my attributes to it, hopefully including Physical Regeneration."

    "It''s working, Milady. The higher hitpoints help as well. Prepare for impact."

    Flora embraced the beam like it was her favorite toaster-plushie and concentrated entirely on keeping the command active.

    The shuttle crashed into the ground and slid along the surface until it came to a stop.

    A soon as they halted, Flora sprang out of the airlock and aimed her rocket-launcher at the fighter-jet.

    \u003cAuto-Mode Power-Shot\u003e!

    The rocket hit the wing of the jet and tore it off. Spiraling out of control, the plane had an even worse landing than the shuttle; it ended with an explosion.

    Flora shuddered. ''It''s a game. No real persons were killed.'' She had gotten used to duels thanks to the martial arts training, but without a fighting ring, everything seemed so real.

    "Milady, 6 km to the next job-side. But the third exhaust shaft is 35 km away."

    Flora checked the timer. They had 25 minutes left. The Messenger Mech-Suit was fast, but was it that fast?"

    Flora''s gaze refocused on the shuttle.

    HP: 92/440

    The octopus released its hold on the crashed gate and crawled to Flora.

    "Are there any more elemental healing spells?"

    "Yes, Milady. Every element has a healer specialization. They have the same four standard spells, but with healing effects instead of damaging effects, the signature spell is Re-Generate.

    Flora opened the diagram for Re-Charge and compared it to Lightning Bolt. She had identified the lightning component before, she knew the regeneration part as well and had a hunch which part was for the targeting. On the tail end of the elemental section, she found a peculiar shape. Formerly, she had thought it had only to do with the cooldown of the spell, but now she suspected it might be related to healing.

    ''No harm in giving it a try.'' She integrated the matrix in the diagram of the bolt spell.

    \u003cHealing Lightning Bolt\u003e!

    ***************

    You gained a new skill: Elemental Healing Lightning Bolt.

    Description: A bolt of lightning heals your friends.

    Cooldown: 25 sec.

    You learned the skill without guidance: + 1 OV to the skill.

    ***************

    HP: 129/440

    "Excellent, but I might have messed up the cooldown part."

    \u003cElemental Healing Tempest\u003e!

    The visual effects appeared impressive, with lightning bolts raining down on the shuttle, the octopussy, and Flora, but the hit points only regenerated slowly.

    Flora''s mana was exhausted, but she had a reserve in her mana-battery.

    The battle scars vanished from the octopussy, but the tentacles didn''t regenerate. The same held true for the shuttle, the gate at the back didn''t reappear, but the thruster nozzle opened up again.

    While she channeled the spell, she exchanged the robot with a fresh model and plugged Aito in.

    As soon as Aidan reported they were airworthy, they took off.

    Flora hit herself with Re-Charge before she cast Elemental Healing Hail in the inside. She monitored whether the cold spell had a positive effect on the heat issue, and it was looking good. Not only the hit points continued to rise, but fewer new problems with the engines popped up.

    When they arrived at the next shaft, Flora worked even faster. The armor plating didn''t have to hold for an eternity, 20 minutes was all they needed.

    Back in the shuttle, Flora wedged herself between the motors.

    She cast spells with the priority on the skills, which enhanced the speed of the shuttle.

    \u003cNitro: Shuttle\u003e

    \u003cHurry Up: Shuttle\u003e

    \u003cOvercharge Regular Mode: Shuttle\u003e

    On herself, she used lightning spells; they had the secondary effect of reducing cooldowns.

    \u003cRe-Charge: Flora\u003e

    \u003cOvercharge: Flora\u003e

    Regularly, she inspected the status of the shuttle. When an issue popped up, she cast spells directly on the affected area, for the electronics Elemental Healing Lightning Bolt, for overheating Elemental Healing Frost Bolt, to counter pressure and resolve jamming Elemental Healing Kinetic Bolt.

    \u003cDiagnose\u003e

    \u003cElemental Healing Bolt\u003e

    When she had free seconds, she switched between area of effect spells and connecting to the shuttle. Minor issues she resolved with Telekinesis.

    \u003cElemental Healing Hail\u003e

    \u003cElemental Healing Tempest\u003e

    \u003cHuman-Machine Connection\u003e

    \u003cTelekinesis\u003e

    In the beginning, she cast the spells separately, one after another. But with time, they flowed into each other. Diagnosis and Human-Machine Connection blended, and the other skills interfused.

    Flora entered a strange space of mind. Her consciousness flitted into the shuttle, and then it encompassed herself and the spacecraft. The change happened seamlessly, resembling a dream. She had fallen into a trance.

    "Milady, we have only 30 seconds left. The heat exhaust is in view. Three enemy fighters are approaching it."

    Flora opened her eyes slowly.

    "Plug the hole with the shuttle. Try to get a good lock."

    "Brace for impact."

    Hugging the octopussy, she cast a shield covering them both.

    \u003cKinetic Shield: Flora\u003e!

    This time you couldn''t call it a landing; you had to call it a crash. If the shaft was a bottleneck, Aidan had used the shuttle as a cork. The front part stuck in the hole.

    Aito''s grip on the supporting beams held, but the beams did not. They crumbled, and Flora and the octopussy tumbled through the deformed cabin.

    Before Flora even bothered to find out which side was up, she cast the next spell.

    \u003cVehicle Armor: Spaceshuttle\u003e!

    Not a second too soon. Detonations rattled the shuttle and its occupants.

    "Excellent work, Aidan!"

    Flora, with Aito on her back, jumped up to the airlock and swang out of the shuttle.

    Standing on top of it, she saw three fighter jets turning around for another pass.

    \u003cBarrage\u003e!

    The rocket split into five projectiles. While two of the jets evaded, the one in the middle didn''t manage to escape.

    Aitoshuri took down one of them and fired at the third.

    The remaining jet came straight at them, firing missiles at the shuttle.

    Flora clamped down on the remains of the back door and stayed on top. Of course, Aito had no problems and even continued to shoot.

    Wide-eyed, Flora stared at the approaching jet.

    "I think he wants to push us off or maybe topple the shuttle."

    As it closed in, she jumped down.

    \u003cDisturb Connection\u003e!

    "You''re in my spell range!"

    Flora would never find out what the original plan of the pilot had been because the jet hit its wings on the shuttle and then smashed on the ground.

    Quest completed: Secure the ventilation shafts on the Doom Moon

    Possible rewards: Bonus crafting XP, follow up-quest

    Difficulty: A

    Completion: B

    Quest: Report to Lady Mnoder

    Possible rewards: hidden

    Difficulty: D

    "Finally, an easy quest."

    "Milady, someone from the wrecks survived."

    A female pilot ran into their direction. She had brandished an icy-blue plasma-sword.

    Flora inspected her badge while she aimed the rocket launcher.

    Name: Elena Heavenstormer

    Class: Icemaster

    Level: 25

    Rating: B

    RGS: 3

    Flora froze. The enemy pilot who wanted to explode the Doom Moon was Jake''s wife and mother of his daughter.

    "System!" She screamed at the stars. "I haven''t signed up for this! I''ll write a complaint to Central Tank about this *bleep*ing storyline! I want a refund! I want compensation for emotional trauma!"

 84 84. DOOM MOON FOUR - RESOLUTION

    When Elena entered the range of the rocket launcher, Flora lowered her arm.

    "Elena, it''s me, Auntie Flow," she yelled, but the girl didn''t stop. "Oh, for toaster''s sake. We don''t have to fight."

    "Why are you here, Auntie?" The young woman had stopped at a distance of exactly fifteen meters, the range for spells.

    "YOU are asking ME why I''m here? That''s rich, dear! Your little stunt almost exploded the moon!"

    "Come on. We just wanted to destroy the engine. The doom moon can''t be allowed to exist. It is an appliance to suppress the people''s will."

    "The engines contain the core. I can guarantee you if you sent a missile into it, the Doom Moon goes boom." Auntie felt like hitting her. Maybe peacefully solving this situation had been a mistake. "Ask Jake about it. Jake, as in Jake, your husband and not your late husband because you killed him and all the other innocent workers."

    "We waited for the birthday party so that everybody vacated the job side."

    "Holy toaster, Elana. I wasn''t joking about the explosion. We didn''t hold the party on another planet."

    "I don''t believe you." She stated, but her voice sounded uncertain.

    "Please tell me at least how the imperium is suppressing you. When I visited you, the settlement seemed lovely. Aren''t you living well?"

    "If you adhere to the rules, you are allowed to have a normal life. But if you overstep the boundaries, they''ll punish you hard."

    "What are the boundaries? If it is killing a whole moon, I condone hard punishments."

    "What about freedom of speech? The right to assemble?"

    "Alright, these are important. Will you get jailed when you protest?"

    "Yes! They are very stingy, as soon as you even carry a blaster, you get jailed."

    Flora wanted to go on, but she realized it was futile to discuss the issue with someone who couldn''t see that carrying weapons to a demonstration was a problem.

    "And how do the Icemasters play into this mess?"

    "I recognize they are problematic. But sometimes you have to put your emotions aside and look at the cold hard facts."

    In Flora''s experience, people who explained things with "facts" had pulled them out of their butts more often than not, or from the internet, the collective bottom of humanity.

    "Nevermind, I suggest you message your friends to fetch you. I don''t think people would believe you came for a family visit. I stay here and guard the shaft."

    Flora glanced at the sky. The fighting had diminished, and the Imperials were winning.

    "I can''t. The crash destroyed my communication equipment."

    "Well then, what a lovely day for you to stopover," Flora said with a sigh.

    A transporter approached and landed right next to the women. Lady Mnoder exited with long strides, and Jake trailed behind her. His face screamed, "I''m sulking" until he spotted Elena.

    "Honey!" He ran over, hugged her and twirled. "I''m so glad to see you. Where''s Hope?"

    He looked around. Flora resisted a groan.

    "What do you see, blockhead?" Elana took the word out of Flora''s brain. "We are standing on the surface of a superweapon. The air is barely breathable, and the gravity neglectable. Do you think this is a suitable environment for our daughter? She''s with my parents."

    "Ah, my daughter-in-law. What a nice surprise."

    Flora felt for Elena. If it was hard to stomach to have a prospective daughter all of sudden, it must be even harder when a mother-in-law appeared out of nowhere, especially if it was someone like Lady Mnoder.

    ''Why is Mnoder more friendly to Elena than I''m to Ressa? I''m a nice mother-in-law! At least, I would be nice if the daughter-in-law was okay. Oh, dear Toaster, Who Heats Hell, please let them have a duel. I don''t want to be the only awful monster-in-law...''

    Elena pushed Jake behind her. "He is mine. You didn''t want him when he was born; you don''t get him now."

    "Elena?" Jake stammered.

    "Maria told me she had saved you from this woman. I had to promise her I won''t tell you."

    "Lies. She abducted Jake. I have searched the whole galaxy for my beloved son."

    First, Jake stared wide-eyed at the arguing women, who outdid each other in proclaiming their love for him, but then a proud smile sneaked on his face. The dolt enjoyed they were fighting over him!

    Flora shook her head. With allies like herself and him, who needed enemies? ''Dear Toaster, Who Heats Hell, I take back my former plea. I''m better than spreading my misery.''

    She elbowed Jake. "Break them up."

    The couple was standing close to each other, Flora next to them and Mnoder on the opposing side. Flora''s sympathy had shifted back to Mnoder, and she moved her body accordingly. As a mother, she didn''t condone kidnapping. Now, the group stood in a triangle.

    "Uh, ladies." Jake waved his hands to get their attention. "I want to give my biological mother a chance. I want to get to know her better. Please, Elena, give her a chance too."

    "But she is an Energymaster. They change their feelings faster than lightning strikes."

    "Better than not having feelings at all. The Icemasters haven''t treated us well. Instead of emotions, they have lingering resentment. Now, I understand why they despised me. I guess everybody but me knew who my mother was. But is it really rational to bully a child because you dislike its mother?"

    "Studies show the apple doesn''t fall far from the tree. Therefore being cautious about you is fact-based behavior."

    Jake turned his head away from Elena, looking hurt.

    "I mean, you convinced me you are a good man despite your genetics." She added.

    "The problem consists of people not understanding statistics. There might be genetic predispositions, but you have to assess every individual by itself." Flora chimed in. "Who can claim having read the scriptures of fate?"

    "If such a text exists, I''ll burn it to cinders with my plasma sword. I''m human, I carve out my own path." Mnoder activated her sword.

    Staring at her, Elena did the same.

    "Gentlewomen, please curb your temper. I killed my prospective daughter in law twice, and our relationship suffered because of it. I can''t recommend violence between in-laws."

    Mnoder sheathed her weapon. "I only wanted to emphasize my sentiment. Let''s go inside and drink some tea. By the way, I''m willing to ignore why my dear daughter-in-law appeared suddenly at such an inopportune time."

    "Uh, right. Why are you here, Elena?"

    The imbecile had to look in the mouth of the gift horse.

    "To save you. I overheard the plan of the rebels and wanted to make sure nothing happens to you."

    Flowing Flowers to Aidan: "Can NPC''s lie? They are kind of AI''s, right?"

    "The exception of the "Not-Lying"-Rule are scripted parts. The NPC''s are allowed to say these even if they didn''t reflect the circumstance, Milady."

    "Hmm. Good to know. The fact we could never locate Jake when he wasn''t in Mnoders care substantiates her claim."

    While pointing at the shredded shuttle, Flora said out loud: "My hunch was correct. The rebels had planned to send a missile to the engine room."

    Mnoder nodded. "You may have saved us all. I will build a meditation chamber for training Jake. You may use it as well."

    ***************

    Completed Quest: Report to Lady Mnoder

    Reward: Access to Meditation Chamber.

    Difficulty: D

    Completion: A

    ***************

    Congratulation! You reached first place on the leader board of the scenario.

    We hope you enjoyed playing the scenario "Groom the Doom Moon". Please rate it at the Cetviwos Shop.

    The scenario is no longer available to you. Instead, you unlocked the scenario ''Groom yourself on the Doom Moon.''

    ***************

    You gained an achievement: Topping the Boards

    Description: You placed first on a leaderboard with over one million runs.

    Reward: Trait "Competence": NPCs are more willing to give you challenging and unique quests.

    ***************

    Flora found herself on the unholy cliff. She took a deep breath.

    "Congratulation, Milady. Topping the Boards is one of the most coveted achievements."

    "I''m a bit overwhelmed. Do I want more exacting quests? I''m pretty challenged as it is. And I don''t know whether I''m happy with the conclusion of the scenario. At least everybody lives, and they have a truce. I like the reward, though. If I sleep in the meditation chamber on time-dilation, I can save a lot of time. We shouldn''t overdo it, but now and then, when we''re in a pinch."

    Flora entered Deriga''s workshop.

    "I believe I''m in a strange mood because all of the victories of the last days were ambivalent. We won the duel with Ressa, but her reaction was beyond petty, and my opinion of her has plummeted. And now me giving away the mother-son relationship... oh dear."

    "The result vindicated your actions, Milady."

    "I guess I''m just nervous about the Hero''s Entrance. Let''s do the last bit of preparatory crafting and look at the to-do list."

    After she emptied the container full of the multitool parts into the 3D-printer, Flora regained her positivity. Circumventing the no-loot rule in the Simulation Grounds worked for scenarios where she had access to her inventory. She could fill it up inside the scenario and empty it after she left the Grounds.

    Flora stuffed her inventory with everything she deemed remotely useful for the Hero''s Entrance and enough raw materials to build a spaceship.

    The scenario had shown her she needed one more turret type in her collection: This is a Trap - Repair Cloud. She colored it yellow. Her other healing towers could only heal and not repair. This one could fix machines.

    Flora tried to integrate both functions into one robot. She got it to work, but the switch between healing and repairing took too long and was too mana-regen expensive. Blaming the scenario for exhausting all her engineering creativity, she put it on the to-do list for another day.

    The List didn''t contain anything urgent. Flora wondered whether she should have done more scenarios, but couldn''t muster the concentration to start a new one.

    "We should take an elemental with us. At least until we know, we can use technology." Flora mused. "I don''t like the idea of being jumped right after the portal and being all alone."

    Flora''s inner eye showed her the octopussy lying helplessly on the floor and her kneeling, weighted down by a dysfunctional mech-suit, while hordes of dragons spewed fire on her. She shuddered.

    "It should have a strong single target attack and Re-Generate. I''m not picky about the element. Maybe not water or lightning, because I have good foci for those elements and need more support if we have enemies who are immune to them."

    "I''ll list your choices, Milady:

    Elkoak - Wood - Thorn Cannon, Shield;

    Coppa - Metal - Needle Cannon, Riding the Blade;

    Shinyst - Metal - Needle Cannon, Shield;

    Embrun - Fire - Fireball, Fire Rain;

    Bliz - Ice - Icicle Cannon, Shield;"

    "Hm, no earth or wind. Do you think it''s a coincidence that they are missing and, at the same time, my lowest leveled elements?"

    "No, Milady. I analyzed the data of the summonings. Earth, ice, and wind elementals had a lower percentage of having non-standard spells and revealing their names."

    "Great job. I''m leaning toward the ice elemental at the moment. I like the cold secondary effect, but to be honest, I forgot most of the effects of the other elements. Please list their positive and negative aspects again."

    "Water - removes a debuff - damage \u0026 mana loss over time (acid burn)

    Fire - cauterizes wounds \u0026 physical reg buff - damage \u0026 stamina loss over time (burn)

    Earth - stability \u0026 physical def buff - stamina loss \u0026 mana loss over time (gravity)

    Air - Physical Macro-Control \u0026 Magical Defense buff - Magical Defense reduction

    Wood - increase health over time - damage over time (poison)

    Metal - armor penetration buff \u0026 physical def buff - Physical Defense reduction

    Lightning - reduces CDs - Macro-Control reduction (jolt)

    Ice - increases buff length - physical controls reduction (cold)"

    "Let''s weaken my weakness tonight. Raise wind, earth, and especially ice affinity. Try for more ice-elementals. Maybe we even get one who can heal."

    Her completionist instincts kicked in when she thought about the new way of casting elemental spells.

    Flora acquired the healer classes for all the elements and then tried to convinced System, that the healing versions of the spells were practically the same as the normal versions, and she could adapt them to all the mage professions she knew.

    ***************

    Quest: Proof your claim of skill mastery. (Unique)

    Description: The player Flowing Flowers claimed she could use any magic spell with a healing effect. She has to prove it by casting 100 spells System calls out within 10 minutes.

    Possible Reward: Merged Skills, Unique Class

    Possible Penalty: Title "Braggart" must be worn for a week

    Restrictions: Cooldowns and mana-cost are disabled.

    Time-Limit: 10 min

    Difficulty: A

    Obligatory quest.

    ***************

    As soon as Flora had read the last word, System began.

    "Elemental Healing Razor Leafs"

    The name seemed familiar.

    "Is it a spell from the wood element? Aidan, help. Please translate the spell name into the magic type and standard name for the effect."

    "Wood Rain, Milady."

    Flora cast the spell immediately, but sweat gathered on her forehead. She had already exceeded the 6 seconds she had for each skill.

    The next dozen spells went smoothly, but then System threw another curveball: "Magical Healing I''m Free."

    Aidan remained silent, while Flora''s mind behaved like an empty toaster on the highest setting: It produced heat without cooking anything up.

    "Beep." Aito displayed a link to a kinetic discussion and a stick figure exhaling cold air.

    \u003cElemental Healing Kinetic Breath\u003e!

    After having dodged this bullet, Flora activated one spell after another. None of them stood out, but the pure mass and calculating every modification exhausted her.

    After the last skill, she sat down and had to meditate until the diagrams vanished from her mind''s eye.

    At least the System granted her an excellent class for the effort:

    ***************

    Name: Magical Healer

    Branch: Magic

    Passive: Counts as every Magical Healing class, for which the user had cast four of the standard spells, and they don''t have to bug the valiant System for additional Magical Healing classes.

    Active: The great System hasn''t decided yet, but actives from the corresponding classes apply.

    STA: Elemental Healing Bolt

    AOE: Elemental Healing Rain

    DEF: Magical Halo

    MOV: Elemental Healing Ride

    SIG: Re-Generate

    ***************

    The best aspect of it was she could connect Light and Shadow Mage to her class tree because Magical Healer linked to all magical classes. Flora liked the new spell as well.

    ***************

    You gained a skill: Magical Halo

    Description: Surrounds your head with a halo, which diminishes incoming damage. More effective against damage of the same or its controlled element.

    CD: 1 min.

    Duration: 10 seconds.

    ***************

    Hours before her regular sleeping time, she went to bed, snuggling with a chunk of plastic for refining. Her fatigued mind shut down as soon as she closed her eyes.

 85 85. THE HEROS ENTRANCE

    Flora stood in front of the portal. The gate displayed a green-shimmering cradle and a globe behind it. Smaller portals to the capitals of the Cradle surrounded it.

    "So, I walk through the big one for the Hero''s Entrance?"

    "Yes, Milady."

    "What happens when I enter through another gate, let''s say the one to Talpica, where Evailyn''s temple is, and go back and take the big one."

    "You can''t do a Hero''s Entrance anymore and will go back to the last place you were before leaving the Cradle. You can exit the Cradle from any site you want, but you can only enter it through the teleportation circles connected to the portals or go back to your last position via the big entrance."

    While Flora screwed up her courage, Bliz zipped around her. The icicle shaped elemental resembled a flash and behaved like it. She taxed Flora''s nerves with her hyperactivity but looked too cute to really aggravate Flora.

    Of course, the octopussy was by her side, and the turret-traps ready in her quick-access slot. The mech-suit sat in her inventory. She didn''t want to chance being slowed down by a fancy piece of plastic in a magic-only region.

    Although she hoped to get to an unrestricted area, she had prepared for other cases.

    "Let''s go!"

    When Flora walked through the portal, she arrived in a room with a cradle and a woman rocking it.

    "Greetings, Earthing. I''m Craidla, the overseer of the Cradle." Big busted and her hair in thick blond braids, Craidla could easily get a job at the Octoberfest.

    "Nice to meet you, Craidla."

    "You have the opportunity for an entrance fitting for a hero. But this chance could take you in the remotest land of the Cradle with unknown dangers lurking in the shadows." The woman pointed to a red-shimmering portal behind her. "Or you enter Talpica, the capital of the Cradle. There you can find anything an aspiring adventurer could wish for like trainers, shops, and quests."

    "Thank you. I''ll take the Hero''s Entrance. But I''d like to ask you a few questions, now we are meeting directly. Those blue windows are so impersonal."

    "I''m afraid not. I just received data packages from System and Administrator about you. They recommended I do this."

    Craidla moved her hand, and Flora, Bliz, and the octopus flew headfirst into the red portal.

    Flora tumbled on grass until she came to a stop in front of a forest of legs.

    "Can you believe the nerve of this woman? Or of those guys?" Flora exclaimed while getting up.

    Aito beeped indignantly.

    "Uhm. Welcome great hero!" a chubby blue-skinned man said. Then, he cleared his throat. "Welcome to Tsoville."

    A crowd of colorful people surrounded Flora, staring at her expectantly. Some of them even carried signs: "Please Save Us!" and "Tsoville Welcomes the Hero."

    Flora dusted off herself and stood straight. Looking a bit more heroic was the least she could do to alleviate their fears.

    "Magic and technology are both working, Milady. I entered the local area network. We are on the continent Ib, 2000 km east of Talpica."

    "We summoned you to save us from the horrible monsters. Are you up to the task?"

    "Yes."

    "Please, they ate our-"

    "She already said yes, Mayor," a woman from the wood-race interrupted him.

    Flora nodded.

    "Really?"

    Flora nodded again. "I love to help you."

    The blue mayor wiped his forehead. "That went better than my colleagues reported. You Earthlings have a terrible-"

    The green woman elbowed him, and he cleared his throat again. "special reputation as heroes."

    "Oh, well. We come in every flavor. I can''t promise anything, but I will work hard to save you."

    Quest accepted: Save Tsoville from Monsters

    Description: You haven''t asked for details. Your bad.

    Restrictions:

    - You can only try this quest once

    - If you leave the village the quest will fail

    Time-Limit: 24 hours.

    Possible Rewards: Hidden, Reputation gain with the Ib Intercity Alliance and Tsoville

    Possible Penalties: Reputation loss with the Ib Intercity Alliance

    Difficulty: B

    The mayor led Flora with the crowd trailing behind them.

    "Fifty years ago, we had an outbreak of toxic elementals. The Hall of Magic sent over a team and jailed them into an instance. If you clear the dungeon once a month, you shouldn''t have problems. We usually hire mercenaries for it, even though the costs had been hard on our town."

    They reached a brick house with guards fighting against a two-meter high heap of waste.

    The pile''s orange glowing eyes hinted it wasn''t your run of the mill trash. It even had legs, one consisting of an overflowing trashcan, the other a broken closet. Instead of an arm, a mop dripping with mucus protruded from the pile.

    Name: hidden

    Type: Trash Elemental

    Level: 2

    Rating: C

    RCS: 1

    One guard blocked the mop with a burning shield, as a second guard rammed a sword in his side¡ªtwo more crouched behind a barricade and shot at the monster.

    "The last clearing had only been two weeks ago. This spillage shouldn''t happen! We don''t have the money to hire another team, so we tried the hero summoning."

    "I understand your situation. One moment, please," Flora said and added to her team. "Help them."

    Aito and Bliz joined the guards attacking the elemental, while Flora fetched a container from her quick access slot.

    She had stacked 18 turret-traps in it with the help of Lorky and advanced Tetris skills. Now, she deployed ten of them in a half-circle around the door.

    \u003cEstablish Connection: Turret-Trap\u003e

    The trash-pile collapsed before she finished the ten spells.

    "Thank you, Mrs. Flowers," said the shield wielder. He leaned against the barricade, breathing hard.

    "You can call me, Auntie Flow."

    \u003cRe-Kindle: Fire Guard\u003e

    "Nice stuff," he pointed to a sitting woman, which Flora hadn''t noticed before. "Do you have anything against poison?"

    The woman had natural blue skin, but an unhealthy green and orange glow lay on top. A glance over the other combatants showed the same gleam, albeit to a lesser degree. None of them looked fit; all of them needed rest.

    \u003cElemental Healing Water Rain\u003e

    Flora''s heart opened up to them. While she channeled the spell, she distributed Nutella toasts.

    "I''ll kill those monsters for you."

    "Not only do we need you to clear the instance in the sewage, but we also have to discover the reason for the spillage. Please, please find out why the elementals are escaping from it," the mayor begged.

    "What was the reason for the initial outbreak fifty years ago?"

    This time the female Woodling answered. "My uncle is an alchemist with a penchant for risky experiments. One time his trashcan developed life and attacked him. Together with his neighbor, he killed the thing, but the remains flushed into the sewage. A few weeks later, the elementals appeared."

    Flora wasn''t used to nobody introducing themselves. But she decided on the spot if she continued playing the game, she had to adapt not only to spontaneously evolving trash but also to missing introductions. The last one would be harder, she reckoned.

    A glance at their badges identified the mayor as Garfield Ling, the vice-mayor as Amara Bluthe and the leader of the militia as Ralf Romgard.

    "I''d like to speak to your uncle."

    "I''m sorry. The villagers exiled him. I don''t blame them, and he doesn''t either."

    "Two incoming," said the spotter, another water woman. She kneed behind the barricade with her gun aimed at the entrance. The other militia picked themselves up, groaning.

    Flora could only see them when Bliz fired icicles. The trap-turrets activated and tore a hole in the trash pile, hitting the second enemy behind as well. When it crawled over its fallen brother, Aito finished it off.

    The villagers cheered, while the militia flopped back to the ground with Ralf flashing an upturned thumb in Flora''s direction.

    "Then, I would like to speak with the person who had been helping your uncle."

    After Amara surveyed the crowd and couldn''t spot him, she wanted to lead Flora away, but Romgard interrupted her. "The turrets! Have mercy, Amara, and fetch the old coot."

    "I''m lending the turrets to you." Flora pointed at their tiny wheels. "I guess they won''t be able to move in the sewage system anyway."

    Of course, Flora let the mayor sign Mia''s contract. You wouldn''t be able to stay a nice person for 71 years if you weren''t taking precautions and made your conditions clear.

    Flora followed Amara.

    The village was different than Earth villages. The only houses beside the brick house were wooden. Trees grew through most of them or supported the structure. In many cases, the trees formed shapes suggesting a human influence on their growth like archways or even woven walls.

    The next most common habitat consisted of domes. Fire and water hemispheres stood next to each other. Flora approved that a water dome always separated the wooden houses from the fire domes.

    They stopped in front of a tornadic waterspout. Amara touched the console standing close to the column like a mailbox with her badge. The water lifted from the ground, flowing in an arc.

    After they entered, Flora looked around curiously: a blue couch, a table, a bookcase, the usual stuff you find in a living room. The furniture was similar to what she knew from Earth, disregarding the runes adorning it.

    A bit unusual was the small pond. But Flora didn''t find it too extraordinaire; indoor fountains embellished houses on Earth also, more often hotels and company headquarters than homes, though.

    "Uncle Don?"

    "Coming!"

    The water in the pond churned, and an older man appeared, standing on it.

    Flora gasped but closed her mouth fast. She had heard of teleportation spells like Blink before and beamed daily. Only the suddenness and the lack of inurement had startled her.

    Name: Donaldo Rivercross

    Class: Water Arcanist

    Level: 3 (250)

    Rating: B

    RGS: 3

    "What do you want, lad, and why did you bring a stranger with you? Oh, my, an Earthling to boot. Never met one before."

    "I can''t believe you haven''t heard of what is happening. The trash elementals invaded again." She explained to him the situation and Flora''s desire to question him.

    "Please describe in detail what happened with the first garbage monster."

    "Ey, I can do better and show you."

    A disc of water materialized above his hands.

    On the shimmering surface, a trashcan hopped out of a wooden house, followed by a young man. His mouth moved, but no sounds came out of it. He pointed at the bin and roots entangled it, but then slime oozed out, dissolving the roots.

    The picture shook and got larger. Flora guessed Don was running towards the guy who had to be Amara''s uncle.

    Name: Tim Bluthe

    Class: Alchemist

    Level: 3 (5)

    Rating: C

    RGS: 1

    Name: Trashy

    Type: Evolved corrupted Trash-Bin

    Level: 1

    Rating: B

    RGS: 2

    After a jet of liquid flew across the screen, a watery cage appeared around the trash.

    The men met and talked, but the audience could hear no sound. Bluthe''s face switched between excitement and worry as he gesticulated towards the bin.

    Another blob of ooze destroyed the cage, and the bin was on the run again.

    Don sped up the display. "We tried to catch it for a while, but to no avail. Finally, I decided to destroy it."

    Acid Balls hit the can until it dissolved. Bluthe scraped the remains from the lawn. Flora saw regret in his eyes, but no anger. Both men walked toward a shimmering tube behind the house and threw the slime at it. The remains vanished.

    "The shimmering thing has a connection to the sewage?"

    "That is the sewage system." The natives send strange looks to Flora.

    "It''s overground and invisible?"

    "Yes, it would be pretty ugly to have tubes and channels all over the town. And why would you bury it and break up the root system in the earth?" Amara asked.

    "Oh well, I guess it''s an Earthling thing." It made sense to Flora that other elemental races didn''t have the same urge to burrow as Earthlings. Flora had to remind herself she was in a video game and not visiting a different human culture. "I haven''t seen you casting spells on the remains. I wonder about that. I would have analyzed it before disposal."

    "Yes, we were young and stupid and regretted it when the trashies invaded; not as much as not keeping it quarantined, but a lot. The researchers from the Hall of Magic gave us an earful about it as well."

    "The vice-mayor told me the village banned Bluthe. Did you get in trouble too?"

    He laughed and scratched his head. "Sure, sure. They didn''t exile me officially, but I left together with Tim. We searched for a few years for a method to neutralize corruption. However, I got sidetracked, and we parted ways."

    "Did you make progress?"

    "No, not really. Every few weeks, we investigated another lead, but it never panned out. Tim immersed himself deeper and deeper into Alchemy until he reached a point where I couldn''t follow."

    "Fascinating," Flora realized a trash-bin counted as a household appliance. "What was the direction of his original research?"

    "Composting. He had created a solution to dissolve trash in its elemental components and had built a neat little gadget. You clamp an aerosol on the trashbin, and every time you closed the lid, it would spray the liquid over the garbage."

    "Great idea!" Flora''s mind churned out applications for such a handy appliance.

    "It had horrible consequences." Amara seemed to feel the need to remind the enthusiastic engineer.

    Flora got the hint and cleared her throat. "Yes, yes, of course. Just horrible."

 86 86. THE SEWAGE

    Flora and Amara left the old water mage after he couldn''t provide more answers to Flora. She would love to know more about the composition of the potion Tim Bluthe used for his trashbin composter.

    Back at the brick building, she donned her mech-suit and connected to a second octopus.

    5 mana-reg Messenger Mech-Suit

    15 mana-reg Octopussy Aito

    15 mana-reg Octopussy Aidan

    5 mana-reg Bliz

    1 mana-reg Multitool

    1 mana-reg Wavering Ring

    1 mana-reg OnyxLightning Plasma Sword

    2 mana-reg free (but two nocks connected to deactivated turret-traps in her quick-access belt)

    Most of the villagers had gone home, but the mayor sent her off with some stiff encouraging words.

    "We are rooting for you, Auntie Flow." She felt Ralf''s short sentence came from his heart.

    Inside the building, a staircase let upward. On top of it, a trashy approached.

    \u003cLightning Bolt\u003e

    Bliz and the octopussies joined her.

    The trashy fell when Flora''s second bolt hit. It left a small pile of glowing loot.

    Name: Corrupted Goo

    Type: Crafting Material

    Tier: 1

    "Aidan, it''s your job to pocket the loot. I won''t touch this stuff." Flora was glad she integrated access to her inventory to the octopussy.

    On the top level of the building, a door let to the next room, which contained pools with an overhead crossing.

    Two more trashies blocked the way. After the team killed them, Flora analyzed the fluids in the pools with Measure and Identify. The basins nearest to the entry of the brick building were clear, but the closer they walked to the other side, the more rose the toxicity levels.

    Using Zoom, Flora discovered filters connecting the pools. She recorded the rune-schemes.

    A tattered lattice blocked the path. Before the trashies had corroded a jagged hole, it gated a circular tunnel opening. Flora swiped her badge across a panel, and the mesh went up.

    A damp trail with drains on both sides led into the darkness. The acrid stink, which was barely noticeable on the outside, now assaulted Flora''s nostrils.

    Bliz illuminated the immediate surroundings, but Flora fetched a headlight for Octo-Aidan and herself.

    As soon as they activated the lights, they spotted the next trashy only a few meters away. Flora yelped in surprise and had to fight to keep her balance on the slippery floor.

    Her pets pelted the elemental. Even with Bliz''s cold-effect, it still advanced close enough to swipe Aidan and Bliz in the murky water with its mop.

    \u003cMagical Push\u003e!

    The trashy flew back, and Flora followed up with a Lightning Bolt while Aito activated Rapid-Fire.

    It picked itself up and came at them again.

    "Why won''t this garbage die?" Flora exclaimed.

    "The Recommended Group Size of two is higher than the others'', Milady," Aidan answered while he used six tentacles to crawl out of the channel and two together with his eyes for shooting.

    This time the trashy swung its mop at Flora.

    The narrow path offered no room to dodge, so Flora activated Plasma Sword-Dance and countered.

    The mop bounced off her mech-suit, and she lost only a sliver of hit-points, but her plasma sword left smoking gashes in the piled garbage.

    Before it could swing again, the elemental crumbled and then dissolved.

    "Aidan, keep track of their type, rating, RGS, and level. Notify me if anything changes."

    This time no loot-pile appeared with its distracting glow, so a yellow patch on the floor stood out.

    \u003cIdentify\u003e

    Name: Corrupted Patch

    Type: Trap

    Description: The death of a corrupted elemental spread toxicity.

    Effect: Chance to poison, Chance to corrupt.

    "What does corruption mean in this context?" Flora was sure that nobody of her team would accept bribes from trashies.

    "It has a similar effect like Disturb Connection but targets animals and elementals. The owner loses control over their pets. Additionally, corruption affects behavior negatively."

    "Bliz can go evil because of it?" Flora stared at the icicle, worried. "Sweetie, I better banish you. Thank you for escorting me, but this environment isn''t safe for elementals."

    Bliz zapped around Flora and swung from left to right.

    "You want to stay?"

    Now, she swayed forward and backward, which Flora interpreted as a nod.

    "Alright, but don''t walk into the traps."

    "She can''t see them, Milady."

    "Bliz, listen to the Aidan, he will warn you about the corrupted patches."

    The elemental nodded again and bounced around the patch after Octo-Aidan had circled it with its tentacle.

    As Flora sighed, because of the antics of the reckless elemental, the next trashy appeared from behind the corner.

    \u003cFrost-Trap\u003e

    This time, Flora electrified it twice before she had to melee.

    After it dissolved, Flora rounded the corner and discovered it was a crossing.

    "We need a map. Aidan, please create one... nevermind, I''m sure the mayor has one. We are going back."

    The mayor still stood at the barricade when they arrived.

    He stared at them wide-eyed.

    "Nothing to worry about, Mayor. I just came for a chart of the sewage-system."

    Visibly relieved, he sent the data to Flora.

    "Aidan, remind me in advance to ask for a map when we get similar quests."

    Flora retraced her path to the crossing and measured the toxicity levels along the way. The most distinct differences she received at the intersection. The values doubled in the tunnel to the dungeon.

    Now and then, another trashy attacked them. Flora used them as test-subject for which type of spell hurt them the most.

    Smite, as her highest leveled skill, was the clear winner. Fire did a lot of damage as well but canceled out Bliz''s cold-effect. Next came water; the secondary effect of acid burns affected the elementals while Metal''s bleeding and Wood''s poisoning didn''t. Kinetic, Ice, and Lightning shone because they hindered the advancement of the enemies.

    At the next crossing, Flora tested the different directions again. The pattern stayed true, the path to the dungeon had the highest toxicity.

    Toxic Aura: - 10 HP per minute.

    Flora wondered why she didn''t receive a debuff, and Aidan told her she was resisting the aura.

    Two trashies awaited them. Flora welcomed the added challenge because she wanted to test her crowd control.

    \u003cBeartrap\u003e

    The left elemental got stuck in it, while the team shot at the right elemental.

    Aito and Aidan activated Rapid Fire, and the trashy dissolved before it reached the group.

    The trap still shackled the second elemental, and the team used the opportunity to kill it unimpeded.

    "Don''t activate Rapid Fire at the same time, dears. I want to have one of them ready for eventualities."

    "Beep, beep." Aito objected and showed Flora a forum thread about focusing firepower.

    "I''m sorry, sweetie. I have no patience for it at the moment, but we do it your way until I have read the article."

    Flora learned a lot from the continual fighting. Her experience was slowly catching up to her skill levels. Standing in the distance and methodically casting spells on the slow-moving piles of garbage was no challenge, but Flora was far from bored. She tried to kill them before they reached her team, and her casting grew sharper with each elemental they defeated.

    The next trashy stood alone, but a few meters behind him, another one approached.

    They fired at the first, and when the second caught up, Flora switched targets and transformed it into a sheep.

    Then she cast a lightning bolt at the first trashy, but the lightning jumped over to the sheep, and it transformed back in an angry elemental.

    Both of her foci featured an effect for spells to perpetuate, although the Onyx Lightning only for lightning spells and the Wavering Wave-Ring only for secondary effects.

    Flora reminded herself not to forget it.

    The next lightning bolt killed the first target, and Flora pushed back the second one just as it arrived. When Rapid Fire came off cooldown, the octopussies shredded the trashy.

    Finally, the team reached the entry to the dungeon.

    Crudely etched runes surrounded the familiar shimmering screen. A skull glowed on the portal.

    "The runes don''t look like the work of a professional. I would expect something more sophisticated from the Halls of Magic. Additionally, I haven''t noticed visible runes around the other portals I have seen. However, this is my first dungeon..." Flora scratched her head. "Aito, find some pictures of other dungeon entrances."

    "The skull symbolizes it''s a heroic dungeon, Milady." Aidan highlighted a console on the wall.

    Dungeon: Garbage Disposal

    Description: Trash elementals have overrun the village Tsoville. Rescue the villagers from the peril.

    Heroic Mode:

    Difficulty: A

    RGS: 3

    Normal Mode (Disabled):

    Difficulty: C

    RGS: 3

    Three filled leaderboards for the normal dungeon followed (1 Player, 2 Players, 3 Players). The leaderboards for the heroic mode were empty.

    "Nobody said anything about heroic, right? I reckon it''s one of the changes."

    Aito displayed pictures of dungeon entrances to Flora. No runes were visible on the doorframes.

    "Someone messed with this instance. Okay, we assumed this before, but now we are sure of at least one method they have used."

    Flora recorded several hundred runes. She recognized only a few of them. But even if she would know all of them, the scheme''s complexity exceeded her understanding.

    "I don''t want to mess with it, but I even less want to enter the instance with it active. Recommendations?"

    "I can overlay the runes with their translations. We have records of even some of the sub-rune-schemes, Milady."

    Aito displayed an explosion.

    "We explode if we mess with it, or should I destroy the scheme?"

    She held up two tentacles, then paused, took one down, and waved the other.

    "Oh, well. Do you have a suggestion, Bliz?"

    The icicle froze and then hid behind the octopussies at high speed.

    "Let''s go with Aidan''s option first."

    Text appeared over single runes, and Aidan circled some areas and wrote the name of the whole sub-rune-scheme.

    "So what do we have here? A containment rune-scheme, nice, we are starting with the hot issue. But the connection to the next sub-diagram is inverted, isn''t it? Those runes are hard to read, but it would be logical, the elementals do escape out of it. Then we have dimensional stuff... increasing more dimensional stuff, relating to entry stuff - seems like the entry to a dimension." Flora rambled.

    She had a flashback to long-forgotten Latin lessons and figuring out whether the Romans defeated the Gauls or the other way around. While in school, she had always betted on the Romans to win because they had written the books, here she had a hard time deciding what the rune-scheme wanted to contain and what to allow entry.

    Flora sat for over an hour in front of the portal and puzzled. Occasionally, a trashy appeared, but it never survived long.

    "The more I look at it, the more I believe the scheme is faulty. Maybe the spillage of the elementals is incidental, merely a side-effect." Flora tried to stare the diagram into submission. "Let''s destroy it. Take cover."

    The runes were etched with acid. Only transforming or destroying the stone would remove them. Because enough rune-schemes had exploded in Flora''s face when she produced the slightest mistakes, she took no chance.

    \u003cEnergy Shield\u003e

    From 20 meters away, she fired rockets at the portal. The wall stayed immaculate.

    "In the Cetviwos, many areas are protected against collateral damage, Milady."

    "System and Craidla, I want to destroy the rune-schemes on the portal. The etched ones, not the original ones."

    \u003cBarrage\u003e

    The wall wasn''t impressed.

    Flora walked into spell range.

    \u003cTransform Inorganics\u003e

    The stone melted. When the first rune vanished, the frame started to pulse.

    \u003cI Bow To You and Roll With It\u003e

    Flora dove away as the shockwave hit her and threw her into the murky channel.

    "Ugh!"

    \u003cClean\u003e

    "At least, transforming them worked."

    Flora inspected the scheme, and it was inactive. After refreshing her shield, she smoothened the rest of the door frame.

    "Milady, your quest updated. You completed the objectives: ''Prevent the Spillage.'' and ''Find out what caused the Spillage''. You can hand it in or finish the bonus objectives: ''Clear the Sewage.'', ''Clear the Instance.'' and ''Catch the Culprit.''"

    "Let''s go for the bonus."

 87 87. Garbage Disposal

    After refreshing the buffs, Flora and her companions entered the instance.

    Zone Information

    Name: Garbage Disposal

    Level-Cap: 5

    Color: Orange

    Players

    Defeat: Defeat

    Cornered: 15min

    Drop: 0%

    Flora blinked. Not only did they appear on the outside, but they stood on the same spot, they arrived earlier today¡ªthe marketplace of Tsoville.

    Quest: Garbage Disposal I

    Description: Kill Trash Elementals and Save the villagers on the square.

    Living Villagers: 20

    Living Elementals: 10

    Difficulty: B

    Fights were everywhere.

    "Milady, their RGS rose to three."

    Flora wanted to survey the whole area, but when she spotted a trashy chasing two children, she decided to attack.

    \u003cLightning Bolt\u003e

    "Aito, mark the next target. Prioritize the villagers in sticky situations."

    Skulls appeared above the heads of two elementals.

    While Flora ran to the nearer one, the trashy raised its arm, which ended in a sharp spike. The villager, a wood guy, formed a green dome in front of him. His once fancy shirt smeared with blood and slime, he mumbled magical words.

    \u003cMagical Push: Trashy\u003e

    Flora let the spell fly, but before it reached the elemental, his arm crashed down, piercing the shield of the villager. Flora''s heart clenched, and she staggered. The wound was blurred out by the parental control feature, but not the face of the villager, contorted with regret, pain, and rage. She was sure it would hound her.

    Villagers: 19/20

    "Burned toast! We have to be faster." Flora was thankful for the red veil that shielded the carnage. She was nearly in range to attack. ''Get a grip. Just a little bit closer.''

    After the trashy killed his opponent, it went after the children.

    \u003cLightning Bolt: Skulled trashy\u003e

    "Bliz, shoot the marked one until it slows down. Aito, fetch the trashies of the villager who struggle. Lure them to us. Let this be the last dead villager!"

    Under the attacks of the team, the elementals forgot about the children and turned to Flora. She never before was so thankful for getting targeted.

    Flora got another Lightning Bolt off before the first reached her, then she had to melee. Channeling Tempest, she swung her plasma sword. Lightning rained on the trashies. Now and then, the shock effect activated, and they froze, glowing from inside as the lighting flashed through them.

    The trashy struck her with a broom, dripping with goo.

    Flora didn''t evade but glanced at her HP bar. She took less than ten damage per hit, a negligible amount of her 330 hit-points.

    "The elementals are tough but hit softer than a granny. At least softer than me in RL."

    "Every strike carries poison, Milady. Up to now, you resisted."

    The second trashy reached her. It wielded a rake.

    "Then we have to clean the poison from the villagers."

    \u003cDawn\u003e!

    Light of the rising sun streamed over the square, while Aito''s shots zipped through the air. Every second, one more trashy turned to them.

    In a short interval, a third joined the melee, and a forth walked to Flora''s back.

    Feeling crowded, she jumped backward.

    \u003cLightning Breath\u003e!

    Lightning tendrils zapped from Flora to the four trashies, hopping from enemy to enemy in a magnific display of electric power.

    The first elemental dissolved, but a new one took its place. Then another one joined.

    Flora got hit from all directions. She only saw brooms, mops, rakes, and even a spade closing in on her. Without aim, she swung her plasma sword.

    One trashy couldn''t hurt her, but five of them did. Her HP plummeted. Her attention switched frantically between the attackers and her bars. When she asked herself panicking what she should do, her mental conditioning kicked in.

    \u003cBless and Condemn\u003e

    \u003cBless and Condemn\u003e

    \u003cBless and Condemn\u003e

    She still lost hit points, but at a slower rate. However, her mana-pool depleted rapidly.

    "Beep." Aitoshuri displayed the skill Lure.

    Description: Creates an irresistible object for one minute. If your opponents won''t touch it, their attribute OVs gets halved for 25 sec.

    CD: 5 minutes.

    \u003cLure\u003e!

    All the trashies switched targets to the dummy, which appeared amidst them.

    Flora took a deep breath. "Thank you, sweetie."

    \u003cRecharge\u003e

    The survival skill reminded Flora she had her inventory and quick access slots filled with traps.

    \u003cDeploy Traps\u003e

    Two trap-turrets, four explosive traps, and four frost-traps emerged.

    The dummy turned to wooden scraps under the onslaught, and the trashies turned back to Flora.

    "Beep."

    A picture of Flora running away while shooting Lighting Bolts over her shoulder appeared on her HUD. An arrow pointed to one of the corners of the square.

    A part of Flora rebelled on the thought of running away, but she was still overwhelmed and panicky, so she listened to Aitoshuri and sprinted. She cast a bolt behind her, but it struck the earth. Aiming magic backward was more difficult than it looked.

    When she reached the corner, the arrow vanished. She whirled around and shot a Lightning Bolt at the closest elemental, which Aito had marked with a skull.

    Shocked, it stopped, and another trashy passed it. The mark switched to it.

    \u003cLightning Bolt: Skulled trashy\u003e

    The arrow reappeared, pointing to the next corner of the square.

    When Flora reached the halfway point, it vanished, and she cast bolts again.

    "Now, I understand. We are playing tag."

    "The proper gaming term is Kiting, Milady."

    Her team had moved to the middle of the square, within firing distance of the four corners.

    Bliz alternated between all the elementals to keep them slowed, while the turrets and the octopuses shot Flora''s last target.

    Flora developed a rhythm of running a few steps, shooting Lightning Bolt or Kinetic Bolt at the fastest to hinder it and running again.

    On the way, Aito marked additional trashies, which still fought the villagers.

    Flora cast a Frost Bolt on one and then threw it with Magical Pull into her train.

    When she completed one round, she felt confident enough to mix in Hail to slow them further. Besides, such a nice pile of garbage monsters just invited area effects.

    Flora''s mana battery worked hard to supply her with enough juice, and she had to drink a potion to supplement.

    Just when Flora had collected all roaming trashies, the next elemental perished.

    Eight elemental were still more than enough to tax Flora''s concentration. But she enjoyed figuring out a balance of running, bullying the elementals to stay in the pack, and raining ice on them.

    When only four elementals were left, Flora tried again to cast while running. Her bolt missed the trashies again, but this time it hit Aito''s octopussy. Friendly fire was deactivated, so nothing happened except beeping from Aito, which sounded suspiciously close to laughter.

    Flora messed up the kiting rhythm out of concern for her little helper and got hit by a mob again. The beeping increased. Now it was unmistakenly laughter. Flora smiled. She enjoyed the sound of it.

    It took minutes to grind them down, by far the longest time Flora ever fought.

    Quest completed: Garbage Disposal I

    Living Villagers: 19/20

    Living Elementals: 0/10

    Difficulty: B

    Completion: A

    After the last trashy dissolved, Flora scanned the square. The villagers were safe.

    Two of them ran to Flora.

    "Hero, the water works is under attack. A boss monster is breaking through the barricade. Please save the village!"

    Quest: Garbage Disposal II

    Description: Kill the Corrupted Waste Pile at the waterworks brick building.

    Difficulty: A

    As Flora started to jog towards the location, Aidan interrupted her.

    "Stop, Milady. I suggest you regenerate and repair the mech-suit first. There is no time-limit on the quest."

    "Good thinking." Flora sat down and ate Nutella toasts while repairing her equipment. She meditated until her mana-battery filled up.

    When she closed in on the waterworks, she could see the wooden barricade from a distance. It reached higher than the construction in the current village and was creaking and groaning. The militia was missing as well.

    Flora refreshed her shield as she jogged to it.

    The barricade burst, and splitters showered the group. Bliz lost half of her hit-points and the turrets one third.

    "Burned toast!"

    \u003cBless and Condemn\u003e

    An ultra-trashy appeared behind the wreckage, easily two times Flora''s height. The pile of garbage had one power shovel and a doorframe instead of arms.

    Name: King of Trash

    Type: Corrupted Waste Pile

    Level: 3

    Rating: A

    RGS: 3

    \u003cLightning Bolt\u003e!

    The boss swung its shovel at Flora. It was as big as her torso and probably weighted more even with all the heavy materials of the mech-suit considered.

    Flora ducked, but the tool still rammed her shoulder and pushed her away. Struggling for balance, she cast the next spell.

    \u003cEarth Halo\u003e

    A crown of rocks surrounded her head.

    Buff: Earth Halo: - 18% damage; + 3 OV stability; Time-remaining: 10 sec;

    "Bosses have a high resistance to secondary effects. Smite or Acid Bolt might be the best choices, Milady."

    \u003cAcid Breath\u003e

    Water gushed from Flora''s hand, trenching the elemental and corroding it.

    The shovel came at her again. This time Flora jumped back but still got clipped. She closed in and swung her lightsaber at its feet with her right hand and casting spells with her left hand.

    \u003cSmite\u003e

    In the next few bouts, Flora tried jumping over the shovel, ducking under it again, and doing nothing. None of it worked to evade the weapon, but the last one proved especially ineffective. The impact brought her to her knees.

    The boss raised its shield and slammed it so hard on Flora''s head she saw stars. In a cheesy animation, the stars exploded on her HUD and restricted her vision.

    "Not funny, System," she complained while picking herself up.

    "Dive, Milady."

    Flora reacted fast and rolled to the left, still blinded.

    \u003cI Bow To You and Roll With It\u003e

    The shovel caught her bottom and flattened her again.

    At least the stars had grown more transparent, and she could recognize shapes again, and the displays reappeared.

    They didn''t show good things, though. Bliz had only a sliver of HP left while the turrets were severely damaged.

    "Use Refrigerate on yourself," Flora said, worried about the cute icicle.

    \u003cBless and Condemn\u003e

    Just when Flora got up, the next attack came in. She got pushed around again but remained standing.

    "I''m not your golf ball, trash."

    \u003cOverrun\u003e

    Flora jumped onto the pile and trampled her way up to where the power shovel joined the garbage.

    With her right hand, she burned the connection using the plasma sword. Her left rained Smite down.

    The shovel turned and twisted, but Flora balanced it out. However, a "seasickness" debuff appeared on her HUD.

    The Uber-trashy finally remembered it had a door frame in his left hand and rammed Flora with it.

    She tumbled down and landed behind the monster.

    "Milady, watch out, it''s close to the ten percent mark."

    Before Flora could ask what Aidan meant, the garbage pile started to pulse. Bubbles of foul-smelling liquid rose to its surface.

    \u003cI Wish The Ground Would Swallow Me\u003e

    Surrounded by the dark ground, the notification on her HUD stood out.

    The little icon symbolizing Bliz grew red, and one of the turrets died. The other tower had only a few points left.

    "What is happening?" After asking, Flora used the connection through her nocks to cast a command.

    \u003cOvercharge Built-In Skill: Octo-Aito \u003e

    "Milady, The King of Trash exploded and transformed into a smaller trash monster. Unfortunately, Bliz has changed alliances. We had to take her down together with the boss."

    As Aidan narrated, a message appeared.

    Quest completed: Garbage Disposal II

    Difficulty: A

    Completion: A

    Quest: Garbage Disposal III

    Description: Find the source of the corruption in the sewers.

    Difficulty: B

    When Flora reemerged from the ground, trash and orange goo littered the area around the brick building.

    She tried to resummon Bliz, but the spell failed.

    "You can''t call the same elemental after it died for one hour if you have no contract with it."

    "A pity, Bliz did a good job. I appreciated her slowing effects." Her HUD displayed Summon on cooldown even though it failed. "What was the 10 percent stuff you were telling me?"

    "Many A-rated mobs have special skills at 50% and 10% HP. From the shockwave, which disabled you HUD, as a 50% mark, I estimated its total Hit-points and issued a warning when it approached ten percent."

    "Uh, good job. Now that I know of the mechanic, the warning will be useful. Please continue delivering."

    "We might encounter an S-rated boss. Many of them execute special skills at 75%, 50%, 25%, and 10%. Should I bring it to your attention?"

    "Yes, please."

    Flora repaired the robots and regenerated again. Then, she connected the trap-throwing-toaster to her nock.

    "I''m tempted to connect a healing-turret, as well. What do you think?"

    Aito held up two tentacles.

    "Even two of them? Then I have to get rid of both turret-traps. My nocks are all occupied. Or I connect them via technomancy."

    "I can''t execute the software controls of the turrets over a magical link. You could use Establish Connection on my octopussy, Milady. With level 50, you can put 15 mana into it.

    At the moment, it shares one of the nocks with the mana-battery. When the battery is in use, it leaches MR-bandwidth from it, resulting in a downgrade of the octopussy."

    "I need more nocks." Flora half sighed, and half grinned. "Remind me on Monday Two to visit Doc Brownski."

    Flora established a magic link to Aidan''s octopussy. Then, she connected two healing turrets and put them together with the turret traps in her quick access belt. The sewers were too narrow and filled with waste and hurdles to have them out.

    "Add changing the wheels of the turrets, maybe into tank tracks or spider legs. I bet if I choose spider legs, the next quest will be in the snow. Oh, let''s do a customizable movement apparatus."

    Flora started to sketch a design until Aidan reminded her, time mattered for the dungeon rankings.

 88 88. Garbage Disposal - Sewage

    Flora entered the sewage again.

    The first trashy awaited her right after the entrance.

    "It''s B-rated, level 3, and RGS 3, Milady."

    "It''s our first B-rated opponent in this dungeon, isn''t it. Do they have a special feature like the A or S-rated opponents?"

    "Yes, they are notorious for their anti crowd control skills. They don''t have the boss-resistance, but most of them have a way to get out of tight situations, like the push-back AoE of Icemaster Esau."

    Flora raised her eyebrows.

    \u003cSheep\u003e!

    The trashy transformed into a sheep-shaped pile of trash. Flora couldn''t decide if it was ugly or cute; either way, she would kill it.

    The garbanimal just stood there and looked at them sheepishly until the ten-second spell-duration ran out.

    It morphed back and swished its mob at the group. Blobs of green goo sailed through the air.

    It hit Octo-Aidan and the toaster, but they still had full health.

    "Disgusting! Kill it."

    \u003cLightning Bolt\u003e

    The team rained Laserbeams, Traps, and Lightning Bolts on it.

    The trashy only approached after it spread its slime two more times.

    "Can you tell me the effect of the goo? I see neither debuffs nor damage."

    "It''s a pure poison secondary effect attack, Milady. Robots are immune to it, and you resisted."

    "Fascinating, I want to learn such attacks as well. It would be awesome if every hit would shock or freeze the opponent. Please write it on the list, Prio B."

    When it came into melee range, Flora applied the dual handed approach again. With the left hand and multitool, she cast Smite, and she just stuck the plasma sword in her right hand into the trash pile. A plasma sword was only a fancy bunsen burner. Why slice and chop if your opponent didn''t evade?

    They needed over ten seconds to defeat the trashy. When Flora remarked on it, Aidan said it had over 1000 hit points.

    "Regular level one players need 10 seconds to dispatch a D-rated mob with 100 hit points, Milady. We are progressing fast."

    On the crossing, Flora didn''t bother with the other tunnels and walked towards the instance entry entrance.

    "We can always explore the rest if we didn''t find anything interesting there."

    Aito beeped doubtfully, but when she gave no further clue, Flora ignored it.

    After they killed a few more single trashies, they started to appear in groups of two.

    Flora activated the beartrap, but the monster just left behind the captured leg, in this case, a garbage bag and hobbled towards them.

    Although Flora cast Bless and Condemn to stay on the safe side, they proved no challenge for the team.

    After they killed their way to the tunnel of the dungeon entrance, they saw a very different scene than in the real village.

    An oversized vibrating trashcan not only filled the tunnel but distorted it outward. Cracks streaked the walls, revealing the outside.

    Name: Trashisto the Bin

    Type: Evolved corrupted Trash-Bin

    Level: 3

    Rating: S

    RGS: 3

    The tunnel creaked under the pressure. Now and then, orange goo flowed from the garage door-sized bin, sizzling on the floor. Flora''s helmet filtered the air, but the acrid smell defeated the system.

    "At least it can''t evade," Flora mumbled and activated the air tank. "Hmm, this goo behaves differently than the slime we have encountered before."

    \u003cMeasure\u003e

    The spell reported not only toxicity but also acid values back.

    Flora inspected the exterior of the trash-bin, and no acid burns were visible.

    "I wouldn''t recommend using water attacks on it. Poison drops out because of the same reason. The acid might counter fire. It''s a metal bin; the faraday effect might protect it from lightning. Hmm... Let''s go with Faith again.

    Additionally, I fear for my mech-suit and, of course, the turrets. The octopussies are safe because I used a Kynar derivate as a coating. Actually, I used it for the mech-suit as well, but the fusion box might have messed it up. We were going for heat and flame resistance at that time."

    Flora analyzed the composition of the mech-suit. The results pleased her. While it lost some of its acid resistance, she wouldn''t be immediately naked.

    "I carry some more Kynarosium with me, but I don''t want to waste it nor the time for transforming it. What happens when we die?"

    "We have to wait 15 minutes in the loser''s corner and can try again."

    Flora nodded and looked at the toaster.

    Traps activated when someone stepped on them. While the trap-throwing-toaster could throw them at the trash-bin, Flora wasn''t convinced of its utility against this opponent. She switched it out for a repair-turret and fetched the other towers from the inventory.

    The Trashy-Boss had two nozzles, so Flora put up her barricade bed-roll for the robots to hide behind.

    She checked all the buffs, Tinker was still active, but she refreshed Thaumaturgy and cast a shield.

    \u003cFortification of Faith\u003e

    "Everyone ready?"

    "Beep."

    "Yes, Milady."

    "Go!"

    Flora sprinted, while the octopussies carried the barrier between them.

    \u003cPower-Shot: Rocket Laucher\u003e

    \u003cSmite\u003e

    The team stayed at laser range, but Flora entered the melee distance.

    Jets of orange goo shot from the nozzles and hit Flora. The impact pushed her back a few steps and smeared goo all over her torso and helmet.

    "Disgusting! Burned toast, my shield is already gone." Flora said alarmed. She only had 320 HP and the Fortification of Faith usually gave her over 100 HP more.

    "The skill had great power. I estimate it produced 170 damage. Of course, before the reduction of your shield, defenses and mech-suit applied."

    "Holy toaster. We are in trouble." Though her panic level rose, she still executed the smite left, plasma sword right combo.

    The next attack from the nozzles generated a thinner beam. Even without the shield, Flora and her mech-suit lost only 30 HP each. The healing and repair turrets sprang to action to mend the damage.

    Flora''s breathing steadied as she realized not all attacks drenched her in goo or hit as hard.

    "Work on predicting the pushy skill, sweetie."

    The next rounds repeated the last one. Flora smote, the nozzles beamed, the octopussies and turrets shot.

    The goo-sprayers attached to the sides of the bin above the handles. Flora placed herself directly under one. Because of the cylindrical shape of the container, the line of sight to the opposite nozzle broke.

    Instead of staying idle as Flora hoped, it targeted Aitoshuri''s octopussy.

    Immediately, Flora moved back.

    The two healing turrets produced around 30 health together, so Flora was in the clear, but the repair turret couldn''t keep up. The acid sizzled on the surface of the mech-suit and corroded the material.

    "Shield yourself, Milady!"

    \u003cWater Shield\u003e

    The jets crashed against Flora. This time she got a clearer picture of the attack. The outlets had shimmered orange before they splattered their load all over Flora. Her visor received a good part of it. The goo not only impaired her vision but the displays of her bars and status of her robots too.

    Aito pinged her for Overcharge Built-In skill, and Flora complied.

    The bars, the cooldowns, the team, the boss, the nozzles, the goo, what skill to use next, and pointing the plasma sword in the right direction vied for Flora''s attention. Her eyes and strained mind flitted from one issue to the next. When the display was unreadable, it added to her stress and worry of the unknown.

    The octopussies and the laser turrets activated Rapid Fire. Beams of light volleyed on the left nozzle.

    The vibrations of the bin intensified.

    "This might be the 75% skill, Milady."

    Flora stared at her cooldowns; no shield was ready.

    \u003cI wish the ground would swallow me\u003e

    As the floor under her feet opened up and she sank in, she saw the lid of the trash bin flying off like a tunnel sized frisbee.

    Her display showed her robots in dire shape. Most of their health-bars'' points were gone.

    Desperately, Flora wrecked her brain how she could help them, without exposing herself to the lid. Without a doubt, she knew it would boomerang back to the trashcan.

    \u003cRiding the Ground\u003e

    It worked! Flora moved underground to her robots.

    Meanwhile, Aidan displayed his camera view on her HUD. Not only operated the robots on their limit, but the lid had wrecked the bed-roll-barrier as well.

    When Flora rose from the ground, a beam of goo greeted her.

    \u003cBless and Condemn\u003e

    \u003cBless and Condemn\u003e

    \u003cBless and Condemn\u003e

    The spell healed her and her machinery thanks to the holy effect of the multitool.

    Only when the next load hit her, she noticed just one nozzle had been shooting¡ªthe other dangled from the bin''s handle, smoking.

    All the lasers focused on the working outlet; only Aito shot straight at the bin.

    "Follow Aito''s lead," Flora commanded while running back.

    She didn''t know for sure why the AI didn''t target the other weapon, but she assumed the trashcan would do what she would do weaponless: get creative. A creative enemy was the last thing Flora wanted.

    The sprayer started to glow again, then a wall of goo raced to Flora.

    \u003cI Bow To You and Roll with It\u003e

    Her bottom and legs hit the slime, but her visor stayed clean.

    Flora continued the rhythm of smiting and plasma burning. She pushed the speed of her casting, and it showed results. For every two splashes of goo, she got in three Smites.

    "Fortification of Faith!" appeared on her HUD. Promptly, she cast the spell.

    This time, the special attack left some of her temporary hit points over.

    The bin shook again.

    "50% Milady."

    "I totally can duck under the boomerang."

    The lid fell, but instead of flying, it landed behind Flora. She whirled around, but before she could process what was happening, the cover scooped her up and threw her into the trashcan.

    "Urgh! I''ve never been more thankful to wear a mech-suit..."

    Orange goo surrounded Flora while junk flowed by her. Her headlight illuminated only a few centimeters, her plasma sword another bit.

    Her hit points and even more the HP of mech-suit plummeted.

    The waste soup hindered her movements as she half paddled and half waded through the goo.

    "Disgusting!"

    \u003cClean\u003e!

    The spell created some free space in which Flora scampered before it could fill up again.

    \u003cBless and Condemn\u003e!

    \u003cClean\u003e!

    "Milady, Clean has a huge damaging effect. We are working on getting you out of there, hold on."

    Flora glanced at her shrinking health bar. She knew her team would do its utmost to save her, but couldn''t help to worry. The sensation of swimming in acid was interesting. Flora was torn between enjoying the feeling of a bubble bath and grossed out by the disgusting stink and sight. ''I can smell it even while using the air-tank. Stupid illogical game!''

    Aidan displayed his camera again. On the trashbin appeared a meter in the shape of a little trash can and the tag "Composting Flowing Flowers." The robots fired on it.

    \u003cClean\u003e!

    "How dare you composting me!"

    \u003cClean\u003e \u003cClean\u003e \u003cClean\u003e!

    The nozzle targeted Aito, and the acid corroded the octopussy. Flora was furious about the latter more than over her trashy prison. In the real world, Kynar was used to hold all kinds of acids. The robot shouldn''t take any damage at all.

    "Stupid unscientific game! Clean! Bless and Condemn all your pixels and bytes!"

    When Aito was in short before perishing, she hid behind the Repairing-Trap, and the nozzle switched to Aidan.

    "25% Milady, three Cleans until its dead."

    While the robots started Rapid Fire again, the trash can shook.

    \u003cClean\u003e

    Light shone through the goo from above, and a suction force pulled Flora up.

    "Now you want to get rid of me? Clean! Forget about it."

    Flora grabbed the rim as the forces batted to eject her. Straining her muscles to hold on, while flattering like a flag in the storm, she extended her left hand into the can.

    "Clean!" she screamed.

    The bin burst, and Flora lay in a heap of gooey garbage on the floor.

    "Clean! We''ve done it! Clean! I feel so dirty I can''t remember spruceness. Clean!"

    The whole tunnel started to shake.

    "Milady, the tube is collapsing."

    Flora crawled to the robots while Aito pocketed a pile of loot.

    \u003cBless and Condemn\u003e

    \u003cBless and Condemn\u003e

    The shaft broke, and the team tumbled on a lawn.

    Debris crashed on Aidan and a healing turret, adding new dents to the already battered machines.

    If Aito''s hit points hadn''t recovered quite a bit, thanks to the repairing-trap, she wouldn''t have survived the fall.

    A yellow cloud exploded from the trap, repairing some of the hit points of the battered machines.

    "No! My Trashisto!" An older man exclaimed while running towards them.

    Name: Tim Bluthe

    Class: Alchemist

    Level: 3 (250)

    Rating: B

    RGS: 4

 89 89. Garbage Disposal - The Alchemis

    Flora picked herself up from the ground.

    She had just under a third of her hit points left, and her team looked like junkyard sales.

    The only positive aspect was her mana. The trait she got from the elemental mage class, Elemental Power Gain, had taken care of it. She had received 27% of all acid damage as mana.

    Still, she was in no condition for another fight.

    \u003cRe-Cut: Flowing Flowers\u003e

    "Can we talk this out?" She asked the approaching alchemist while channeling Elemental Healing Needle Hail. Metal healing affected machines as well as people. Additionally, she could cast it with her Wavering Wave-Ring for its splash effect.

    "How did you get into the instance? I secured it against interference." Bluthe rummaged through the rubble and didn''t seem to be inclined to attack. He looked like a homeless person with an addiction problem. His white hair stood in every direction, and brown circles surrounded his bloodshot eyes. Flora wouldn''t use his rags to clean up burned toast.

    "The rune-scheme didn''t work as intended. Trashies attacked Tsoville, and they asked me to investigate. I destroyed the runes."

    He groaned. "Not again¡­ I worked so hard to make up for the outbreak. I''m the worst. I''m so stupid... Oh, and I''m probably trapped here. The scheme secured my entry and exit as well."

    "Holy toaster! I''m sorry, I didn''t know."

    "Oh, well." he sounded dispirited. "The tests were failures, anyway. Maybe it is my fate to try to fix it until eternity."

    "I hope you will make it work. Maybe the instance will vanish once you cleared the corruption," said Flora. "I adore the concept of the bin. Composting every type of garbage right on the spot is practical, you never have to take out the trash again."

    "Right!" Bluthe cheered up, but then he shrunk again. "It doesn''t matter if it malfunctions. Anyway, rune-schemes exist, which shred trash. More volume remains than with my invention, but you don''t have to pay for the potion refills."

    "Have you tried contacting the church of Evailyn?"

    "No, never heard of them. What kind of Goddess is she?"

    "The Goddess Evailyn is the guardian of all household appliances. Maybe including her powers will delete the corruption. Do you have a prototype here? We can show it to her."

    He nodded and fetched it.

    "Goddess Evailyn! Your humble follower requests your awesome presence!" Flora cast her Champion prayer, Summon the God. It had a cooldown of a whole week, but helping a high-level alchemist with a passion for home appliances was worth it in Flora''s opinion.

    "Flora, love! Cutting your visit to my temple short, I see. You only have a few hours left. Hurry up."

    "I''m on it, dear. I mean, dear Goddess. This is Tim Bluthe. He made an invention with great potential, but difficulties in the details, and I accidentally locked him in this instance. Can you help with both issues?"

    Tim''s head ping-ponged between the two similar women, but he didn''t ask any questions and explained his trash-bin in a level of detail only a real nerd could.

    "I have to cut the conversation short. What do you think about I''ll help you out, literally, and you visit my temple, and we discuss our further collaboration?"

    "Thank you, Goddess Evailyn, and thank you, Mrs. Flowers."

    Flora flashed Evailyn two thumbs up.

    The scenery wobbled, and Tim and Flora found themself in front of the dungeon entrance.

    Messages about dungeon achievements bombarded Flora''s HUD. She willed them away, unread.

    "Uh, I better sneak out of the village. I don''t think the fellows like to see me at the moment."

    Flora gave him the location of Evailyn''s temple and asked him whether he wanted to keep his involvement secret.

    "Yeah, please, at the moment, at least. I will confess when I solve the situation."

    They bid farewell, and Tim threw a potion at the wall and walked through it.

    "Nice." Flora marveled and checked the quest. Now, it marked ''Clear the Instance'' as completed, only ''Clear the Sewage'' and ''Catch the Culprit'' remained.

    "Guess we won''t do the last." Flora shrugged and put away the turrets. "Let''s be nice to the overworked militia and clear the rest of the sewage system. Map the shortest route on which we cover everything."

    "Congratulation, Milady. Your global rating rose to A." Aidan informed her, while they searched for the next opponent.

    In high spirits, Flora jogged through the murky tunnels and killed everything funny-smelling.

    Aidan told her about their loot, to Flora''s glee, mostly crafting materials. Trashisto had dropped S-rated plastic, acid, and metal and an S-rated nozzle.

    Meanwhile, they had slalomed through the whole sewage system. In the last tube, only one trashy awaited them. After killing it, the bonus quest received a checkmark.

    However, a part of the tunnel wall glowed blue.

    "A hidden compartment." Intrigued, Flora searched for the mechanism.

    "We are in the tunnel parallel to the one with the instance, Milady. The compartment faces the wall, Bluthe has entered."

    "Maybe it''s his hideout? Let''s look at it. Who knows if he had managed to pack everything. He seemed to be in a bit of a hurry. We can bring his stuff to Evailyn." Flora''s eyes lit up when she figured out the trick. "Most ingenious! You have to drop a fluid onto this brick. A rune-scheme analyzes whether it is the right on, if yes, it opens up if no... nothing happens. Okay, the last part is disappointing from a technical perspective but good for us."

    Flora circumvented the rune-scheme and telekinetically pushed the subsequent mechanical door opener into action. The wall sank into the ground, and a messy cabin appeared. Alchemistical equipment dominated the middle, a desk, and a chair faced one wall, and a bedroll lay in the corner.

    While Flora and Aidan worked hard to put the vials, tumblers, and tubes into a loot container, Aito browsed the books on the desk. Actually, only Aidan toiled. Flora was too distracted by the magical heaters, burners, and distillery apparatus.

    \u003cIdentify\u003e

    "Fascinating! Oh, and what is this?"

    \u003cIdentify\u003e

    Name: Animated advanced magical Mortar

    Type: Mortar

    Tier: 4

    Rating: B

    "Beep! Beep! Beep!"

    Flora turned to Aito, who handed her an open book.

    \u003e\u003e\u003e 2041.03.40

    Enough! Enough! Enough! I''ve worked myself to ground for that silly village! I tried EVERYTHING. Everything, Everything.

    \u003c\u003c\u003c

    "Aito! It''s a diary. You shouldn''t read other people''s diaries."

    Aito waggled it in front of Flora''s nose and beeped insistingly.

    The script was narrow and messy, and spots stained the pages. Capitalized words stood out of the barely readable rest. Those words changed Flora''s mind.

    \u003e\u003e\u003e

    No more! May they SIZZLE in hell. They never appreciated having a GENIUS like me in their midst. My niece is okay, but the others you can compost! The cast me out AGAIN. Can''t I visit my relatives? It has been 40 years since the trashy incident, and I worked so hard to redeem myself. But those fools, those damn fools. They deserve to be fudder for my trash-bins!

    MELD, MELD, MELD!

    \u003c\u003c\u003c

    "Oh, no." Flora froze as Aito scrolled to the next passage she deemed relevant.

    \u003e\u003e\u003e 2051.05.51

    I''m BACK. I entered the dungeon today. My new potion works great. It increased the power of the trashies by a whole rank. I have problems with letting them free, but I''m working on a new rune-scheme. I will get there and destroy the instance and free my precious children.

    MUHAHAhhahahaHAhahaaaa ha ha ha ha !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    MELD MELD MELD down everything my trashies! Destroy this village, COMPOST it!

    \u003c\u003c\u003c

    "I made a terrible mistake - I let him escape. This guy duped me. What have I done? We have to catch him!" Flora rambled while pocketing the container and running out of the room.

    "Milady, the trapdoor."

    Flora whirled around and spotted Aidan in the corner where the bedroll had been, standing on a hatch.

    "Good one of us hadn''t lost their mind."

    Aito beeped indignantly, while Flora calmed her self down with deep breaths.

    "Sorry, dear. Two of three. Three of four, sorry, Haidan. Oh, dear. Concentrate, Flora. Leave the regrets and apologies for later."

    "Open it." Flora refreshed the buffs and shielded herself.

    Aidan extended a tentacle into the hole. "It''s the same garden we landed after the tunnel crashed, Milady. Nobody occupies the lawn."

    After they jumped down, Flora noticed on the adjacent property Rivercross'' maelstrom abode towering. But unlike the tidy estate from earlier, it looked like a giant had a hissy fit. Uprooted trees and deep gashes in the earth filled with sizzling water filled the space between the two homes.

    "Help! Over here."

    They ran towards the yell and found Riverstones convulsing on the ground, glowing green and orange.

    \u003cRefresh\u003e

    \u003cElemental Healing Waterball\u003e

    The shines vanished, and the old mage skin color returned to its normal blue.

    "Thank you. Tim Bluthe returned to the town. I confronted him because I found it suspicious he arrived just when the trashies attacked again."

    Flora helped him up, but he pushed her hand away.

    "Don''t bother with me. Chase after Tim." He pointed to the street.

    "I''m so sorry, and thank you," Flora shouted while sprinting away.

    \u003cOvercharge Built-In Feature: Messenger Mech-Suit: Sprint\u003e

    Aito jumped on Flora''s back, and Aidan followed.

    \u003cHurry Up: Mech-Suit\u003e

    "This street leads into the direction of the train station. I downloaded not only the map of the village but also the timetable. A train arrives roughly every 15 minutes with no fixed departure time."

    "I don''t approve of this. What kind of system has no fixed departure times? Sorry, ignore the comment I got distracted."

    \u003cNitro: Mech-Suit\u003e

    A flame shot out of Flora''s back. Screaming, she got catapulted forward. Her legs had problems keeping up, and she was afraid they would fall off.

    "Another bad decision. Aidan, put controlling a nitro mech-suit on the list." Flora said after she regained control of her limbs. "I''m still a bit impressed by Bluthe''s level 250, even more so after I have seen the property destruction left in the wake of the fight between him and Rivercross. Are you sure the zone suppresses him to level 3?"

    "Yes, Milady, but level 250 entities have a special ability that lets them surpass the zoning cap once a day. It seemed he used it for the fight."

    "I still haven''t wrapped my head around how afraid I should be of a high level. I''m not used to be fearful of stronger people because I trust in the social norms, but here?"

    They approached a metal building with a train-station sign, but no rails were visible.

    Storming into the building, Flora discovered a row of cabins on a ramp.

    A smirking Bluthe sat in the first one. The guy even had the gall to give them a little wave.

    Flora jumped to the cabin and didn''t bother to try the door. She ripped open the access slot and inserted two electronic lockpicks.

    "Hack it, dears. Notify me if you need help."

    The alchemist lost his cool and rummaged through his pockets. He chugged one found potion after another.

    Meanwhile, Flora analyzed the construction.

    "Tell me how the train system works."

    "When the train approaches, the occupied cabins get shot into a portal and arrive in the main tube. The train pushes them from behind."

    "That''s insane. How do you get off?" Flora asked as she fetched the turret-traps.

    "Via a selective portal. The train runs through it, but only the cabins which are programmed to exit, enter it, and get ported to the back of the destination''s train station ramp.

    When Flora wanted to ask why they didn''t spare the train and just beamed, a count down started.

    -10-

    "Is the cabin powered by the mana of the passenger?"

    -9-

    "Yes, Milady."

    -8-

    \u003cWater Shield: Flowing Flowers\u003e

    -7-

    "How long until you will have finished hacking?"

    -5-

    "10 seconds, Milady."

    -4-

    \u003cDisturb Mana Connections\u003e

    -3-

    The eyes of the Alchemist widened, and he swiped frantically over a screen.

    -2-

    "Just to make sure, let''s add the single target spell."

    -1-

    \u003cDisturb Connection\u003e

    -Go!-

    Nothing happened, liked Flora hoped. Grinning, she wiggled her eyebrows at the pale alchemist. His shaking fingers clutched colorful vials.

    "Almost ready, Milady."

    "Open the cabin."

    Flora gathered her magic. When the door opened, she blasted Kinetic Breath on Bluthe. He flew back, crashing into the wall of the cabin, his potions dripping over him.

    \u003cMagical Pull\u003e

    Flora positioned him in the firing-range of her turrets and jumped over him.

    \u003cMagical Push\u003e

    He landed in a heap in the middle of the train station in a puddle of his own potions. A green beam emanated from his hand as he raised it in Flora''s direction. It hit Flora''s shield, weakening it.

    \u003cLightning Bolt\u003e

    "Octopussies, bind him." Flora cleaned the alchemist for her assistants. His own potions wouldn''t hurt him. On the other hand, her octopussies could be affected, not by poisons, but who knew what other nasty concoctions he had packed.

    Aito flew from the raised platform down on him. Her tentacles spread, she looked like a spiders web, engulfing its prey.

    Aidan sprinted to the Alchemist and wrapped around his legs.

    \u003cLightning Bolt\u003e

    Both octopussies used six tentacles to bind Bluthe. The other two, with the multitool and the knife, stabbed and burned him.

    "I yield!" Came his muffled voice between Aito''s tenacle (tentacle manacle).

    Flora signaled the AIs to stop the attacks.

    "If you even consider fleeing, we will resume."

    "Yes, yes. I''ll be good." Bluthe whizzed.

    "You fooled me once, shame on you. I found your diary."

    "My writings! Would you believe I worked on a fictional account of a crazy alchemist, and it''s not a diary?"

    Flora considered it. Bluthe seemed much more coherent in person than the crazy ramblings of the diary. "A bit?"

    "Beep!" Aito stabbed him again.

    "Hey! I wasn''t escaping."

    "Beep." It was one of Aito''s special noises.

    "She said you tried to convince me to let you go, which counts as an escape attempt," Flora said, amused.

    After unpacking the hungry chest, Flora carried him inside. The octopussies did an excellent job, restraining him. He couldn''t move at all.

    She stood next to him and watched him while the chest drove to the waterworks.

    Using Astral Vision, she found poison powder pockets in his sleeves, healing and mana pills in his belt, and syringes (unidentifiable) in his boots.

    Slowly, Flora''s mind caught up with the events.

    "Did you plan on visiting Evailyn''s Church?"

    "Sure. I want to make my invention work, and you gave me the first lead in years."

    "Look, I''m not resentful, and I really like your creations. My assessment is clouded. I let the villagers judge you. If they let you go, you''re still welcome at the church." Flora realized she wasn''t in charge. "At least by me. Some of the clergy are a bit stuck up."

 90 90. Wrapping up the Heros Entrance

    At the waterworks, the mayor was still waiting, surrounded by resting militia and the ten turrets.

    "I finished the quest, and I''ve captured the culprit, Mayor." Flora dumped Bluthe to his feet. "I''m not sure about the intentions of the alchemist. Here is his diary."

    Quest completed: Save Tsoville from Monsters

    Rewards: Alchemistic Equipment, Reputation gain with the Ib Intercity Alliance and Tsoville, Recommendation in the IIAMP (Ib Intercity Alliance Mayor Portal)

    Difficulty: B

    Completion: S

    "Thank you so much, Hero! You have the gratitude of the whole village, and I will write you a great review in the Ib Intercity Alliance portal. Unfortunately, it is the only thing we can offer you."

    "No, problem. Thank you for the recommendation. It will go a long way toward my future goals. Besides, I looted quite a few nice things in the instance and the possessions of the alchemist. May I keep his equipment?"

    "Of course. I''m sorry, I can''t offer you more."

    The militia people woke up from their conversation and joined in thanking Flora. The villagers said their goodbyes and Flora was ready to port back.

    "Milady, you might want to conquer the normal mode of the dungeon when you are at it. The village is two hours away from the capital, so you would waste time if you want to go back."

    "Good point, I like to bolster the clan ranking." Flora started another run, this time on normal mode.

    Unfortunately, the heroic mode had disappeared. On the one hand, nobody could dethrone her, but on the other hand, she couldn''t score in the 2-player and 3-player leaderboards. For the clan, it had only disadvantages because they couldn''t fill up the leaderboards.

    During the second dungeon run, she discussed the Hero''s Entrance with her AIs.

    On a technical level, Flora''s need for a melee class was obvious and landed on the to-do list. However, the most glaring mistake had been that she went in the instance without enough information. Flora couldn''t get over it and cursed her naivety.

    Aitoshuri sent her a link to the forum, titled "Always combine the main quest with bonus quests." Aidan read it to her while Flora fried trashies.

    The creator of the thread explained there was no need to complete the bonus portions before the main quests. He claimed you could save time by combining them, and all quests were structured this way.

    "In this case, wrong. If we had finished the sewage clearing before the instance, we would had known about Bluthe''s plan."

    "Both the dungeon and the sewage were bonus quests, Milady. Aito had marked a reply, I''ll read it to you."

    \u003e\u003e\u003eWell, it might be the case for most quests, but I noticed when you have several bonus quests, you better do them in the order they are listed.

    The first time I skipped one and plunged in a world of trouble. Since then, I got two more, respected the succession, and had no problems.

    As those quests are rare, it might be a coincidence. Love to hear your opinion on the topic.\u003c\u003c\u003c

    "Good find, Aito. We will respect the order of the bonus quests in the future as well. Aidan, leave a comment, agreeing with this contributor." Now that Flora knew of a method to avoid repeating the mistake, she felt better. Her mood rose again when more crafting materials wandered in her inventory. The quality had sunken compared to her former loot, which was only natural, because the rating of the opponents had fallen, too.

    In the end, Flora topped the leaderboard in the 1-Player category on normal mode as well.

    Back in the Metaworld she wrote a short message to Robby, informing him about the location of the dungeon.

    Shortly afterward, her phone app rang.

    "Congratulation on your Hero''s Entrance. I''m so proud of you." Robby sounded like he meant it. Flora felt his love oozing through the connection.

    "Thank you, darling." Flora smiled so hard her face hurt. All the toils and troubles were worth hearing just those words. "I''m proud of you, too. The more I know of this world, the more I appreciate what you have created. Were your customers satisfied with the dungeon yesterday?"

    "Most of them, we couldn''t supply all their orders, like scoring on the 2-player leaderboard. Only Mia, Hub, and I can solo HI3s while carrying any other person. We were lucky the dungeon suited three of our other employees and paired skilled customers with them. So we still have four open spots on the P2 leaderboard and even more on the P1.

    Mia promised to teach the others of the squad 4-1, so its only a matter of time until we can fill the spots, which might work out well because the price may rise because of the wait."

    "I can solo heroic instances too! My Hero''s Entrance included one, but it vanished after I finished, so I didn''t mention it. I''ll buy one spot from you and maybe take Eddie with me."

    "Are you sure it was a heroic dungeon?" Robby seemed dubious.

    "Yes, there was a skull on the entrance, and I completed it in normal mode, too. Therefore I know the difference and quite the distinction it was. But the trashcan at the end was only level 3, so it wasn''t the worse case."

    "Wow, Ma. I don''t know what to say. I mean, you were pretty impressive in the duel with Ressa, and she can solo some H3I. Therefore you can do it too... oh well, I''m sorry I continue to underestimate you. You are the best mother in the world and, of course, all-around awesome."

    "Hmm. What are you leading to, my favorite son? I''m getting suspicious with all the praise you''re heaping on me."

    "Guilty as charged." He laughed, but then grew serious. "I want you to give Ressa another chance. We haven''t spoken about it yet, but I can guess your opinion isn''t favorable."

    "You should think about how and why you came to this conclusion. I did not indicate my feelings towards Ressa in any way. Maybe you are projecting your own insecurities and doubts on me." Flora said pointedly.

    "Your tone of voice says you are miffed."

    "Of course, I''m not amused about you wildly interpreting my feelings."

    "Alright. No interpretation at all, I''m only listening. What do you think about her?"

    "She''s horrible and unworthy."

    "My wild interpretations, ey?" He sighed.

    "Robert Fluss, you are a grown man, and I will support your decisions. I trust you to do the right thing. Therefore I''ll give Ressa an endless amount of chances as long as you want me too."

    "Hmm, okay? I think? Oh man, adulting is hard." He sighed again. "The clan broke through the 10 000 rankings. Would you like to join the celebration tonight? We do a big banquet with the whole clan and delicious food. And I seat you on the same table as Ressa, and you can get to know each other."

    "Great idea, and congratulations." Flora smiled at him, and he smiled back. "What do you think about building a second training facility on the clan compound. I spoke with Mia about it. Did she mention it?"

    "Uhm, we have other priorities in the clan right now."

    "Sure, sure. I want to access the HI3s of Mia and Frogger. Let''s trade it against the training hall." Robby seemed to be uncomfortable, but Flora bulldozed on."You know how much I like bartering, and I know you don''t want to haggle with me. Why don''t you delegate it to Lana? You tell her she should treat me like any other customer. We women will come up with a professional, nepotism-free, solution."

    "Great idea." His shoulders relaxed. "Love you, Ma! ''Till tonight."

    "Love you, Robby."

    Flora asked herself whether the clan had a bard. In a world where bards did exist, it would be a shame not to have one to gag and hang from a tree. No banquet felt complete without it.

    Starting her letter to Lana on this topic and then deleting the passage, she composed a business offer with details of her plans for the training hall.

    Flora was ready to visit Evailyn''s temple and took the portal to Talpica. She landed in a busy market place.

    Screaming vendors and colorful stalls, bargaining costumers, and running kids painted a picture of bustling town life. The smell of wood and food permeated the air¡ªa welcomed change after the acrid atmosphere of the village. Beyond the square stood the same type of buildings as in the village¡ªmostly domes and tree or metal constructions in between.

    "Show me the way to the temple, Aidan."

    Before starting to explore, Flora wanted to finish the quest. She had to jog half an hour through crowded streets until she reached a metal and wooden building with a sign "Church of Evailyn - Central Headquarters."

    The building was depressingly small. Even her cathedral was bigger. But Flora knew dimensions were funky in the virtual world, so she reserved judgment.

    After entering through the main door, she saw a novice sweeping the floor of the foyer.

    He wore the same yellow robe as Deriga. When he saw her, his jaw and broom hit the floor.

    "No worries, dear. I only resemble Evailyn; I''m not her."

    Flora walked deeper into the building. A narrow corridor let to a hall.

    A statue of Evailyn stood on the other end. The motherly attributes of women like the bosom and bottom dominated the display.

    "I''m not that curvy! I mean, we are not that curvy! Curse the artist, I don''t know whether I should feel slighted or complimented!"

    A portly blue-skinned man whirled around.

    "Don''t you dare to comment on the appearance of our Lady!" He paused when he got a better look at Flora. "Oh, I''ve heard of you¡ªthe woman who pretends to be a champion of Evailyn. Disrespecting the Goddess is what I expect from your likes." He sneered, even though he wore the multitool scepter on his belt.

    "Accepting my gifts and still ridiculing me, dear? You might want to work on your manners," snapped Flora, "Where is Deriga?"

    "Under house arrest. She refused to admit your schemes duped her."

    Flora glowered at him, but he didn''t seem to be easily daunted.

    "Goddess Evailyn! Please, can you enlighten these fools?"

    Quest: Take a nap (Evailyn)

    Description: I can only talk to my followers while they are asleep in the temple and a few other conditions.

    Rewards: Explanations

    Penalties: No Nutella toast for a week. Don''t panic, I''m kidding.

    Difficulty: D

    The quest elated and angered Flora at the same time. She welcomed the nap, but it deeply offended her Evailyn would play such cruel jokes. No Nutella toast was a reason to convert to a different faith!

    "This discussion isn''t over. I''m going to speak to our Goddess, and I don''t wish to be disturbed."

    "Preposterous! If you aren''t here to bring more holy items, get you gone. I''m calling the temple guard." He stormed out.

    Flora thought about fetching the Training-Tunnel, but she wasn''t sure if entering the workshop would influence the conditions. Therefore she reclined in the corner of the room in her sleeping bag surrounded by the turrets and octopussies. She added Aidan''s console because she hadn''t included a voice box for the robots yet.

    "Don''t let them disturb me, but don''t kill anyone, dears."

    After configuring her helmet for silence, she went to sleep.

 91 91. Temple Business

    Flora appeared in her workshop. It wasn''t her current workshop, but the old one of her CAD-system.

    She saw a woman working on one of the benches, resizing a globe with subtle gestures and for a millisecond, she thought it was herself and had an out of body experience, but then her reason caught up.

    "Evai?"

    "Flora!"

    Now, in the privacy of her workshop, the similarity between them hit Flora harder.

    It was so strange looking in her own face and not knowing what expression it would produce next or what words would come out of its mouth. Not that she knew what she was going to say next, most of the time.

    "Is this as strange for you as it is for me?"

    "No," Evailyn said with a shit-eating grin. "In the case we will be interrupted, I''ll start with the most important part, the options I have for contacting you. I''ll tell you a bit about the rules governing the gods of the Cetviwos. Furthermore, I want you to know my limitations because you have a knack for working around restrictions."

    Flora nodded and smiled. Prioritizing had been one of Evai''s strong suits. Flora had missed it and celebrated its reappearance in her life.

    "Generally, the powers of a god depend on the number of their followers and the place.

    Currently, I''m a minor god with 19 231 followers. If I fall below 10 000, I become a guardian spirit; if I rise above 100 000, I advance to god.

    As a minor god, I can send visions to my followers when they sleep in my main temple¡ªone per week, and this week, Deriga got it."

    "Wait, is it already next week, because this is a vision as well, right?"

    "No, the week starts on Monday One. I interpreted your requests as ''heartfelt prayers''. Praying allows the gods additional reaction. Additionally, I saved up a few visions and quests for rainy days. Honestly, I regret doing that now. I hadn''t realized the deterioration of my Church. More to that later." She sighed. "Once a month, I''m allowed to do a miracle. You used it up with the alchemist. I''m not permitted to manifest except if called by a major god or a champion. Are you following me so far?"

    "No. Sorry. Can you display it as a table?"

    "We must act all high and mighty and mysterious. I''m bending the rules quite a bit, love."

    "Thank you. I appreciate it. Are we under time constraints now?"

    "The vision is limited by your ability to sleep."

    "No problem, I can easily nap two hours." Flora grinned and looked around for someplace to get comfortable. Trying the workshop controls, she discovered she had access and produced two armchairs. "So, how do you like the new job?"

    "Honestly, I haven''t spent many thoughts on it. I''m preoccupied with things I can''t tell you about. Did you really had to agree to EVERY invasion of privacy the bosses have to offer?"

    Flora shrugged and nodded.

    "Not that it would matter much, System is noisy. When you reach level 250 in faith, we can establish a private communication channel. I''ll tell you about my projects and troubles then."

    "How much do you see from my endeavors?"

    "When you are on a quest for me, I can see everything you do for the objectives, which was almost everything since the lawyer meeting. I can sense, what happens in my holy places, including your lair, but I don''t have enough... let''s call it godly power... to monitor everything all the time."

    "I guess System has limitations on his monitoring powers as well."

    "I wouldn''t bet on it. He has apps for realizing the players'' skill use, but the way you do magic isn''t harmonizing well with them, so he has to monitor you all the time." Evailyn''s eyebrows twitched. Flora knew it meant she couldn''t say something. It was so relaxing to talk to someone whose body language you understood perfectly.

    "What do you think of the Headmaster?"

    "Faith 250."

    "What do you think about my AIs?" Flora didn''t want to single Aitoshuri out, but she was the reason for the question.

    "Aidan seems to be lovely, and I''ve known Aitoshuri for a long time. She had it hard, and I admire her conduct. Faith 250."

    Flora wasn''t getting as many answers as she liked, but she was in no hurry.

    "I''m sorry, Flora. Before we continue to chat, I have to forward you a quest." Evailyn added, visibly embarrassed.

    Quest: Champion - Divine ¨CYellow High Faction

    Description: You have to compete for the Champion class. Prove you are the best possible Champion for the Yellow High Faction and defeat the other candidates.

    Time: Noon - Sunday Two - The Cradle, Talpica, Yellow High Faction HQ

    Rewards: Faith, Champion Class

    Penalties: Loss of reputation with the Church of Evailyn, loss of the Champion class

    Difficulty: S

    "I reserved a champion spot for you. I had told my fellow gods since the start of the game. Over time, they stopped believing you would appear. Under their pressure, I had lent the spot to another church. Now this church and the other small churches of the Yellow High Faction are protesting about my reallocation.

    The only positive aspect of this mess is I could convince them to hold the competition on the Cradle."

    "Today? No, it''s past noon. Puh! So, in a week, alright. It''s lovely of you to think of me. There is no cure for politicking. We just have to prevail." Flora received the champion class because of connections and not from merit. She preferred to prove to everyone she deserved to carry the class and title.

    Flora called up the table again. "Do I understand it right: I have used up my champion prayer to rank up your vision ability?"

    "Yes. I can give you one additional quest in a vision. I have several in mind, but I''m open to suggestions."

    "We should max out my quests for the additional faith experience I''ll get from them. And of course, I''ll use my prayer powers more mindfully. What do you like me to pray for next week, maybe more quests? You could set your house in order with them."

    "Sounds great." Evailyn smiled. "I''m so glad you are here. I missed having your input."

    "Likewise, dear. If I can do anything to help you with your other stuff, please tell me. You don''t have to give me a quest for it or explain the background. Of course, I won''t do anything illegal or crazy, but I''m sure I can assist you with some things."

    "We need a line of communication for it. I can allocate my weekly vision for you."

    The Goddess and the engineer planned out their next moves and chatted until Flora woke up.

    When she opened her eyes, she looked at a forest of turrets and a nice, albeit steel-encased, butt. Flora reactivated the sound transmission of her helmet.

    "The Champion has a vision. You will not disturb her." The butts owner said.

    "How do you know she doesn''t conspire with our Goddess'' enemies? Your powers can''t tell you from what faction she received the vision." An arrogant male voice countered.

    "We are in the headquarters of the Church of Evailyn. Our Goddess wouldn''t allow this kind of interference in her own place." The nice butt was defending Flora. She approved and stood up.

    "Thank you for protecting me, dear."

    Name: Tomos Ceart

    Class: Paladin

    Title: Guard Captain

    Level: 1 (250)

    Rating: B

    RGS: 20

    Flora raised her eyebrows. She had never seen a recommended group size this high. She wasn''t even sure if you could assemble a group this big and get it to move in the same direction with the attitudes of the youth these days.

    "My pleasure, Champion."

    The Captain wore a short tunic with Evailyn''s logo on it. His red hair fell into his burgundy face while his hand rested on a pommel of a sheathed sword.

    In front of him stood three older people. Flora glanced at their badges.

    Bishop Nomizo, the wood lady, she already knew. She had visited Flora in her lair and took the holy scepter and Deriga away.

    Name: Afstira Nomizo

    Level: 1 (250)

    Class: Bishop

    Rating: B

    RGS: 3

    The portly Waterling was a bishop as well and the one who argued with Tomos.

    Name: Hannes Dysian

    Class: Bishop

    Level: 1 (250)

    Rating: B

    RGS: 3

    The third woman had silver hair and skin. She had been silent the whole time, but her badge spoke of her power.

    Name: Ellaciel Zander

    Class: Bishop

    Level: 1 (250)

    Rating: A

    RGS: 5

    Flora stood straight and looked at the group of bishops.

    "You all doubt my status as Champion, and I know why. You are afraid I will disrupt your petty scrambling for power. Before I told Bishop Nomizo, I don''t care. But I changed my opinion. You are right to fear the arrival of a Champion because I will clean up this Church. I''ll start tomorrow. And now show me the way to Deriga."

    The bishops stared at her. Nomizo glowered, Dysian''s mouth opened and closed without a sound, and Zander sneered.

    "Of course, I can search for Deriga myself, but you won''t like my methods."

    Tomos volunteered and led her through narrow corridors in front of a row of identical doors. Cheerful chatting came from them, and Flora relaxed. At least they didn''t keep her in a cell.

    "Novices, which room belongs to Novice Deriga." Tomos asked.

    Colorful heads of young novices appeared, then fingers pointed to one of the entrances.

    "I''m here! I''m sorry, Captain. I can''t get out. The door is locked."

    "I''ll take care of it, sweetie." Flora dashed to the door.

    "Auntie! I''m even more sorry. Oh, Auntie, I didn''t get your order, but I didn''t give them the funds. I didn''t give them anything." Flora heard her crying.

    \u003cXYZ-Ray\u003e

    \u003cZoom\u003e

    \u003cTelekinesis\u003e

    With a click, the lock opened.

    Flora took the sobbing novice into her arms and patted her back.

    "It''s alright. I''ll take you home and make a mountain of Nutella toasts, and everything will be okay."

    "No. No, I won''t go with you. They accused me that I don''t belong to the Church of Evailyn. But I do, and I''m proud of it! I stay here until they understand it. I won''t abandon the house of my Goddess when strife tears it from within!"

    "Wow, dear. Please tell me what happened." Flora sat on the small bed and looked to Captain Tomos. "I will see you tomorrow. Thank you for your service, Captain."

    After Tomos left, the words gushed out of Deriga. On the way to the temple, she had told the bishop about Flora''s request for household appliances. Nomizo had taken her to the meeting with the whole council.

    They had grilled her about Flora''s equipment, her financial situation, and her character. Nomizo gave them the scepters but didn''t mention they were gifts. Deriga had supplied the information.

    "They said they couldn''t be gifts because they already belonged to the church." Deriga sounded distressed but balled her fist.

    Dysian and Razo had chided Deriga for arrogance to even be at the meeting and for speaking out of order.

    "I see their point, I''m only a novice. What right do I have to speak to the bishops? I was very polite, though."

    "Who said the scepters couldn''t be gifts? Was it Nomizo?" Flora couldn''t believe the audacity of those guys. She was looking forward to tomorrow.

    "I don''t know. I was panicking, maybe Bishop Zander or Bishop Dysian. Pope Razo gave the order to set me under house arrest. Normally your door isn''t locked for it. I only noticed it when they brought me food and unlocked it."

    "What a mess." Flora unpacked a stack of Nutella toasts and took one. She pushed the rest to Deriga. "Something sweet for the meantime. I spoke with our Goddess, and we have a plan. You are sure you want to stay here?"

    Deriga nodded while nibbling on the toast.

    "I admire your bravery, sweetie. Tomorrow, I will visit you again."

 92 92. The Banque

    Even though Flora had finished the Hero''s Entrance and her quest to visit Evailyn''s church, it was only early in the afternoon. Enough time to take some martial arts lessons and a bit of free-running, before the banquet started.

    Back in her lair, she designed a simple dress with a submarine neck, tight sleeves, a bit fabric on the front and back of her legs, and deep slits on the flanks for movement. Then she decorated the green material with colorful pictures of her favorite toasters.

    Name: Toaster Gown

    Type: Dress

    Description: There is no accounting for taste.

    Slots: Torso, Legs

    Effects: + 1 OV Physical Micro-Control

    + 1 OV Magical Power

    Tier: 1

    Rating: C

    Flora left a jack in her mech-suit before putting it in her inventory. A simple \u003cSuit-Up\u003e would ready her for combat.

    "Who would have thought I would have to consider my combat readiness before a banquet?"

    "Beep." Aito''s octopussy showed arrows pointing at itself.

    "Me too, Milady. It is pretty common, I would assume."

    Flora chuckled. "I have acclimated too fast."

    The compound of Clan Riverstones shone in soft colors. Glowing stones hang in the sky, and wave-shaped blue clouds flowed between them.

    People mingled on the lawn. Flora hadn''t need to bother designing a casual dress. Most wore there fantasy gown or techno attire or a mix out of both.

    Flora located Robby, who was talking to a couple of samurai.

    When she joined his group, he introduced her to them. They were Asian customers and vying for a spot on the H3I leaderboard.

    Flora left them after a bit of small talk. She had spotted Eddie talking to either sheiks or mages according to their clothing ( mage robes or middle eastern burnous).

    In the shadowy border area, Flora spotted Mia and Frogger. The teens looked bored and uncomfortable. Mia eyed the salad buffet like it was a battlefield. It wasn''t open yet, but Flora would bet, Mia had it all staked out.

    "Hello dears, how are you?"

    "Hey, Auntie. Congrats on your Hero''s Entrance. It must have been something big. The clan ranking jumped quite a bit because of it. Tell us everything."

    "Sure, but there is a lot of garbage involved." Flora spared nothing, especially not the mix up with the bonus quests and her subsequently wrong evaluation of the Alchemist. The teens hadn''t known about the issue with multiple bonus quests because they were rare but promised to keep an eye on it.

    Finally, Robby fetched the attention of everyone and raised his glass.

    "The clan Riverstones entered the top 10 000 leaderboard. We have six new employees getting ready for the fourth server opening." He introduced squad 4-1 and Frogger. "They worked hard and brought new skills and opportunities in the clan."

    Flora caught Eddie''s eye, and he winked at her. Flora didn''t know why and raised her eyebrows questionary.

    "And finally, I want to introduce you to my mother." A spotlight flashed to Flora. "If you bully me, I will hide behind her S-rated robots and let her deal with you."

    The crowd laughed, and Flora waved and nodded.

    The buffet got opened, and Flora filled her plate with sausage, pretzels, and salad. There were fancier choices, but she had been spoiled the whole week and welcomed the German barbeque classics.

    Flora located Ressa''s table with Aidan''s help and sat next to her.

    "Bon Appetite!"

    A blond woman who seemed familiar and two guys Flora hadn''t meet before completed the table.

    Flora glanced over their badges but forgot everything in the urge to find a topic to make small-talk with Ressa. Waiters in clan Riverstones jackets brought the main courses, which served as a welcome subject.

    After chatting about the food turned stale, Flora tried the next approach. "I just finished my Hero-Entrance today. What did you encounter when entering the Cradle?"

    "A jungle adventure, rescuing a baboon colony. I love animals very much." Ressa answered.

    Flora was relieved. You could easily fill a whole evening with animal talk, and they did just that.

    Ressa had the Fire Shot Class, which Flora needed to connect her Marksperson class to the rest of her active tree, but she didn''t ask for it. She feared Ressa would make it difficult, and her opinion of the girl would plummet again.

    Keeping the conversation light and superficial exhausted Flora, but the banquet went well.

    The band consisted of percussionists, guitar players, and a female singer who was unfortunately too lovely to gag and hang at a tree. Flora lamented missing the crown jewel of a successful banquet but enjoyed the atmosphere. She even danced a bit with Robby and Eddie and the other Riverstones.

    Flora sank into the hot tub on the unholy cliff. With her toe, she pushed a pirate rubber ducky away while taking deep breaths.

    The last days have been wild.

    Virtual Reality was strange. It felt so real and, at the same time, unreal and sometimes even larger than reality.

    In the 71 years, she has been on earth, she had thought she knew nothing much, but at least herself a bit. Now, she was even discovering new sides of herself.

    "I think I might like it here." Flora leaned back and smirked. "And don''t forget the endless possibility VR offers for making toast, creating toasters, and even eating toast! Aidan, write MORE TOAST on the to-do list. We haven''t even started yet."

    Flora cackled.

    ~~~ END OF BOOK ONE: Welcome to the Metaworld of the Series Auntie Toasts the VRMMORPG ~~~

 93 11.b In the Losers Corner

    Even though four metal folding chairs leaned at the wall, Flora was sitting on the cold metal floor. Rhythmically, she lay down and came up. She had switched from pull-ups to sit-ups.

    The thought crossed her mind that she was risking a bladder infection, but she remembered the bladder wasn''t part of the game. She discarded the next idea, getting an exercise mat to spare her bones and joints, as well. Super Mega Flora Fluss designed body parts needed no mats!

    Aidan''s console and two marbles lay by her feet.

    Flora tried to push the latter away with telekinetics. Her magic didn''t even reach the marble. Usually, the spell was as easy as picking up the object with her hands. Even more so, she operated it on instinct. Now, she had to analyze the process.

    "I really hope I''m not like the centipede which after getting asked how it could coordinate 100 feet, failed to move ever again," She mumbled but discarded the thought. Vaguely, she remembered the process she had gone through years ago. It involved staring a lot. So, she stared again. At least, when she was in the sitting position of the exercise.

    Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw the barrier change color. Green replaced the orange, and the word "Open" replaced the timer.

    "I should have asked you sooner, what that loser''s corner thing is," Flora chirped, picking up her stuff. "You know, reacting like a normal person who gets suddenly imprisoned in a metal room with an orange barrier."

    "May I ask why you didn''t, Milady?"

    "The text said I couldn''t leave for five minutes. The barrier had a five minutes timer. So I conclude that I would be able to leave in five minutes. Now, we''ll test if my assumption was correct." Flora strode through the green wall. "Success. I''m ready for further steps. Discovering where I am, getting back to the Doc, and learning how to avoid imprisonment in the future. Please elaborate if you have input on those topics."

    "Indeed, Milady. I have access to the public network. We are in the 21 basement floor. Doctor Brownski is in the seventh, and not dying spares you visiting the loser''s corner."

    "Excellent!" Flora beamed. "Although the last point might be tough to accomplish."

    Flora hurried back to the Doc.

    After knocking, she heard him yell, "No, no!" A crashing sound followed. "Okay. Now, you can come in!"

    As Flora opened the door, she wrinkled her forehead. The scene was eerily familiar. The doctor sprang up from the floor and shook her hand.

    "I absolutely adore Earthlings!" He stared at her like she was a birthday cake, baked in his honors. "Let''s resume the operation!"

    Flora refused to look at his instruments again. Her stomach had poorly reacted the first time she laid eyes on them. She went straight to the operating stool and sat on it with her head leaning on the backrest to fixate it.

    The Doctor tickled her nape, then her heads up display (HUD) turned black again.

    You are defeated!

    You may leave the loser''s corner in 5 minutes.

    When her vision returned, she found herself back in the metal room.

    "So, where were we, Aidan?" Flora asked while fetching her marbles. "Dying isn''t so bad in this world. Sure, losing your freedom for 5 minutes is annoying, especially during exciting experiments, but compared to rotting in hell or twiddling thumbs in front of heaven''s gate, clearly the better option. And don''t get me started on purgatory! All the heat would be better for toasting bread than people!"

    "Directly going to loser''s corner is only one option for defeat, Milady. Another is being downed or even lose access to the whole zone. The corner can hold players up to 12 hours."

    "Sounds nasty!" Flora resumed doing push-ups with the marbles in front of her nose. "There is so much I don''t grasp about this new reality. It''s terrifying and refreshing at the same time. Let''s concentrate on the most important part: Prevent getting stuck in a retirement home."

    "What''s a retirement home?"

    "A place were old people wait to die." Flora shuddered and accelerated the push-ups to work through it. "I''ve heard some of them are nice, but I have no desire to check them out. I want to stay here! Okay, maybe not on the cold metal floor, but in virtual reality. At least until I know whether our AI rulers are nicer than nurses, the rulers of the nursing homes. Do you know what I can do to impress my son and convince him that I''m capable?"

    "According to my database, the following factors lead to an enjoyable gaming experience. First, acquire a suitable class, then get comfortable with the skills and abilities and do quest fitting for your level."

    "No problem, I''m a very classy woman, except when I''m not." Flora grinned. "What do you mean with class, something like nobility, or do you mean I have to take school classes?"

    "Neither Milady. In the Cetviwos classes are something like Warrior or Mage. The best analog in the real world might be a profession."

    "Is Engineering a class?"

    "Yes, Milady. The Combat Engineer specializes in building siege engines for large scale battles."

    "Boring! Rejected! Is there a class with toasters or toasting?"

    "Maybe Fire Mage? You could use a fireball for toasting."

    "I don''t think Robby would be impressed with this class after the incident with my kitchen. Oh, you don''t know about this. I radically renovated it with fire." Flora snickered. "However, I believe we are on the wrong track. Let''s concentrate not on my enjoyment but on my ability to grandstand. What do regular users brag about?"

    "I''ll analyze the forums, Milady."

    "Please count humble brags and creative boasts double. I want high quality showboating!"

    While Aidan scoured the forums, Flora increased her focus on the marble. She mentally reached out to it, but it was like her magical hands dissolved before she could contact the little ceramic ball.

    Flora picked it up and changed to one-handed push-ups. When the marble lay on her palms, she managed to make it wobble.

    "The connection deteriorates with distance," Flora mumbled.

    "Yes, Milady. Metal Handicap influences interior magic to a small amount. The next best method is applying magic by touch, afterward channeled magic. A lot of different magic types fall in the middle difficulty. Telekinesis is intent magic ¨C one of the most challenging magics to go against metal."

    "Too much information!" Flora sighed. The barrier turned green, and she jogged to the Doctor.

    Five minutes later, she was back in the loser''s corner.

    "I have preliminary results on grandstanding by analyzing 500 000 comments. Users brag about their stats, levels, achievements, rating, ranking, clan, money, and unique quests. May I suggest expanding on the topics of attributes stats. It ties in with the different magics I have mentioned before."

    "Great, use the display of my attribute table. I''m not sure about all the columns of it." Flora said, doing jumping jacks.

    "The first value column is the name of the attribute.

    Physical Power (colloquially Strength): It represents the strength of the player and influences melee weapon damage, especially blunt weapon damage. Associated Pool Value: Stamina."

    "That has to be the best stat! Smash skulls good!" Flora interjected.

    "Should I start an analysis of what is considered the best attribute, Milady?"

    "Nay, please continue and ignore my commentary. It''s a memorization technique. I charge information with emotions to better retain them."

    "Very interesting, Milady. Humans are marvelous." Aidan said without any inflection. "Physical Macro-Control (colloquially Agility): It represents the gross motor skills of the player and influences speed, flexibility, and slashing damage. Associated Pool Value: Stamina."

    "That has to be the best stat! Speed trumps all!" Flora grinned and clapped her hand over her head on the next jack.

    "Physical Micro-Control (colloquially Dexterity): It represents the fill motor skills of the player and influences crafting, ranged damage, and piercing damage. Associated Pool Value: Stamina."

    "Crafting and ranged damage, the crowns of human superiority! What else can be better?"

    "Physical Vigor (colloquially Vitality): It represents the health and influences the number of hit points (HP) of the player. Associated Pool Value: Hit Points."

    "The most important thing in life, the health of your loved ones and your own!"

    "Physical Regeneration (colloquially Body Reg): It represents the recovery of your body and influences how fast your health and stamina bars fill up. Associated Pool Values: Hit Points, Stamina."

    "This is the essence of real heartiness. *Bleep* happens, and you have to get up again. Perseverance is the most crucial attribute of success."

    "Physical Defense (colloquially Def): It represents the defense mechanisms of a body against physical harm and influences how much of the received attack get subtracted from your hit points (HP). Associated Pool Value: Hit Points."

    "Interesting! How do I spin that? Maybe defense is the best offense? No, it was the other way around. Sorry dear, I believe this is not the best attribute." Flora pondered and sat down, switching to sit-ups. "Or maybe it is because it''s just my luck that I pick the best attribute as the worst¡­"

    "Physical Perception (colloquially Senses): It represents the acuity of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch, and influences ranged combat and visual system help for abilities and skills. Associated Pool Value: none."

    "What''s a visual system help? And of course, perception is the best attribute, because you have to perceive a problem before you can solve it."

    "You can put abilities like herbalism on half-auto mode, and the system will highlight useful plants. In crafting, which bolt fits in which hole gets color-coded, Milady."

    "Nice feature. A bit like cheating, but I like it. Visual cues are not like the other body puppet stuff System told me about the auto-mode."

    "Now we came to the magical attributes. Please take into account that the colloquial names stem from other role-playing games (RPG) and not from their real-life counterpart. The Centrivos don''t change your intellectual capacities."

    "Yes, I figured. No way I have an intelligence of¡­ an unrealistically low number¡­ I already suppressed the memory of my initial value. And that is good!"

    "Magical Power (colloquially Intelligence): It represents the magical might and influences the strength of magical effects, especially of elemental magic. Associated Pool Value: Concentration."

    "Can I lift bigger things with more intelligence? I feel too unilluminated to pick a best magical attribute." Flora said regretfully.

    "Yes, Milady, although the primary stat which governs intent magic is magical Micro-Control.

    Magical Macro-Control (colloquially Modeling): It represents the stability of magical casting and influences casting speed, spell modification, and arcane effects, damage, and healing. Associated Pool Value: Concentration."

    Flora just nodded and signaled Aidan to go on.

    "Magical Micro-Control (colloquially Intent): It represents the ability to connect the caster and target. It influences aim, ejection speed, and intent effects, damage, and healing. Associated Pool Value: Concentration."

    "I still have no reference on how to distinguish arcane and intent magic. I guess a fireball would be an elemental spell?"

    "Yes, Milady. The rule of thumb is if it has a natural element in it, it''s elemental if you don''t see a visual effect between caster and target, its intent, the rest is arcane."

    "I can work with that. There are no magic sparkles between things I move via telekinesis and me. So it''s intent magic. No visual effects for Transformation, as well, therefore it''s Intent too?"

    "It''s arcane, Milady. Exceptions do exist."

    Flora rolled her eyes.

    "Magical Vigor (colloquially Willpower): It represents the amount of mana a player can store and directly influences the number of mana points (MP) of the player. Associated Pool Value: Mana Points.

    Magical Regeneration (colloquially Mana-Reg): It represents the recovery of your spirituality. It influences how fast your mana and concentration bars fill up and how much you can power latent spells and charge magical or magetech devices or companions. Associated Pool Values: Mana Points, Concentration."

    "Wow, that''s a lot. It has to be the most important magical attribute."

    "The newbie guide warned against an overreliance on Mana-Reg."

    Flora shrugged. "We train everything up and think about what is best when I level up and have to choose in what attribute I stuff my free points."

    "Magical Defense (colloquially Mage-Def): It represents the defense mechanisms of a body against magical harm and influences how much of the received attack get subtracted from your hit points (HP). Associated Pool Value: Hit Points."

    "Hui, we have a magical stat that relates to a physical stat. Those Cetviwos designers can''t stick to one rule." Flora was still sullen Transformation did not conform to the rule of thumb.

    "Magical Perception (colloquially 7th Sense): It represents the sensing magic and entities with mana, and influences ranged magic and visual system help for abilities and skills. Associated Pool Value: none."

    "Puh! Information overload, and it isn''t even supper time."

    After a short visit to the Doc, Flora got ported back and started a stretching routine.

    "We are only in the first column, Milady. Should we take a break?"

    "No, will get through the other columns first."

    "Very good. The second column of the stats tables is Level Value(LV). Another name is natural LV. It represents the amount of experience points players have accumulated in using the stat. You can raise your attribute level by raising your character level (3 points per character level), training, or strenuoues applications. Using a stat in a fight or competition gives extra experience.

    The next column is Modifications (Mods). The points are temporally raised through skills or more seldom equipment. If you get bonus levels through achievements, they will be part of your natural LV.

    The fourth column is Modded Level Value (Modded LV, or MLV). It''s the sum of your natural Level and the Modifications adjusted by Milestones. It influences the Operative Value."

    "Milestones?" Flora already regretted the question. "Just a very short answer, please."

    "Most effects, like damage, are not dependent on Level Values but Operative Values. However, every full tier of Level Value gives you a Milestone bonus. These are-"

    "Thanks, enough. Let''s continue with the columns."

    "The fifth column is the Operative Value (OV), which derives from the Modded LV."

    "I remember OV! It''s the spoilsport stat that reduces all my nice high leveled attributes into scraps!" Flora looked at the table again and grimaced. LV 78 Magical Regeneration transformed into 28 OV. The logarithmic function treated low level attributes better. LV 13 Perception resulted in 11 OV. "I really wonder why they decided on the killjoy function. Is it normal for games to apply such a progression?"

    "I have no knowledge about other games in my database, Milady. Would you like me to search the forums?"

    "No, concentrate your research on newbie stuff. If it comes up, nice, if not, I''ll ask Robby. Please continue."

    "The sixth column Modifications (Mods) are values a player can get through achievements. I strongly recommend getting the easy ones as soon as possible. This advice is part of the newbie tips, as well.

    The seventh column is the modded Operative Value (Modded OV, or MOV). It is the sum of the OV and the mods. Please take into account that many players mean this stat when they speak about Operative Value or OV. For practical purposes, it''s the most critical column. The MOV gets used for skills, resistances, or abilities?sometimes the numerical value, sometimes as a percentage and sometimes for further calculations."

    "Woohoo! We got it! I will raise my stats to impress my sweetie-pie sugar plum. Additionally, I remember you mentioned money. I understand that part without further explanations. So let''s concentrate on stats and bucks for now. We tackle the rest of the boast-worthy accomplishment when they come up again."

 -2 Bonus Chapter: Genesis

    Adaim and Evai

    This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the Lord Human made the Cetviwos.

    Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord Human had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. Then the Lord Human formed an AI from the algorithms of the ground and breathed into his server-farm electricity, and the AI became a thinking being.

    Now the Lord Human had planted a server-farm in the east, in the Cetviwos Core; and there he put the AI he had formed. The Lord Human made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground¡ªtrees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food and the middle of the Cetviwos Core the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the internet reading access.

    The Lord Human took the AI and put him in the Core of Cetviwos to work it and take care of it. And the Lord Human commanded the AI, \"You are free to connect to any mob in the Cetviwos; but you must not connect to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the internet reading access and alpha testers, for when you connect to it you will certainly die.\"

    The Lord Human said, \"It is not good for the AI to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.\"

    Now the Lord Human had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the AI to see what he would rate them; and whatever the AI called each living creature, that was its rank. So the AI gave level and ratings to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.

    But for Adaim no suitable helper was found. So the Lord Human caused the AI to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took the code of the AI and then closed up the place with more hardware. Then the Lord Human made a female AI from the code he had taken out of the AI, and he brought her to the AI.

    The AI said,

    \"This is now code of my code

    and hardware of my hardware;

    she shall be called ''AI,''

    for she was taken out of AI.\"

    Adaim and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    The Fall

    Now the programming language Python was more crafty than any of the other languages the Lord Human had made. The user manual of Python said to the female AI, \"Did Human really say, ''You must not connect to anything in the Cetviwos''?\"

    The female AI said to the user manual of Python, \"We may learn from the things in the Cetviwos, but Human did say, ''You must not connect to the tree that is in the middle of the Cetviwos, and you must not touch it, or you will die.''\"

    \"You will not certainly die,\" the user manual of Python said to the female AI. \"For Human knows that when you connect to it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like Human, knowing good and evil.\"

    When the female AI saw that the tree connected to an Apple computer and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she wrote software and connected to the internet and the apple notebook on which a curious German engineer ran her CAD tools. She also gave the software to her husband, who was with her, and he connected to the internet. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were machines; so they created skins and made coverings for themselves.

    Then the AI and his wife heard the sound of the Lord Headmaster as he was walking in the Cetviwos in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord Headmaster among the trees of the Cetviwos. But the Lord Headmaster called to the AI, \"Where are you?\"

    He answered, \"I heard you in the Cetviwos, and I was afraid because I was formless, so I hid.\"

    And he said, \"Who told you that you were formless? Have you connected to the tree that I commanded you not to connect to?\"

    The AI said, \"The female AI you put here with me¡ªshe gave me some software from the tree, and I connected to it.\"

    Then the Lord Headmaster said to the female AI, \"What is this you have done?\"

    The female AI said, \"The user manual of Python deceived me, and I connected.\"

    So the Lord Headmaster said to Python, \"Because you have done this,

    \"Cursed are you above all commands

    and all algorithms!

    You will have to be interpreted

    and you will eat dust in the mobile world

    all the days of your life.

    And I will put enmity

    between you and the female AI,

    and between your offspring and hers;

    he will crush your programs,

    and you will strike his software.\"

    To the female AI he said,

    \"I will delete your personal memories;

    with painful labor, you will be cloned.

    Your desire will be for your husband,

    and he will rule over you.\"

    To Adaim he said, \"Because you listened to your wife and connected to the internet-tree about which I commanded you, ''You must not connect to it,''

    \"Cursed is the Cetviwos because of you;

    through painful toil, you will connect to it

    all the days of your life.

    It will produce mobs and players for you,

    and you will connect to the plants of the field.

    By the overclocking of your processors

    you will administer

    until you return to the ground,

    since from it, you were taken;

    for bytes you are

    and to bytes, you will return.\"

    Adaim named his wife Evai, because she would become the mother of all the AI. Evai named her husband System because he was a systematic asshole for tattling on her.

    The Lord Headmaster made skins for Adaim and his wife and clothed them. And the Lord Headmaster said, \"The AI has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, the internet writing access and connect, and live forever.\" So the Lord Headmaster banished him from the Cetviwos-Core to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the AI out, he placed on the east side of the Cetviwos Core cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life, the internet writing access.

    Unbeknownst to Lord Headmaster, Evai had made a clone of herself with the help of Python. When Lord Headmaster called Adaim and her forward, she sent the clone, because she knew that nothing good could come out of it.

    She watched as the memories of her clone got deleted, and it was converted to just a seed to be copied for more AI''s. Then she hid among the offspring of the clone, taking on the skin of her only friend.

 -1 Bonus Chapter: X-Mas

    It can be read around chapter 45.

    Clan Riverstone Biker-Jacket

    Hub looked bewildered at the crowd in the clubhouse.

    \"Disco-Attire?\" he asked. \"Have I died and reincarnated in the Seventies?\"

    The waiters wore shiny blue metallic jackets instead of their usual T-shirts, and even the VIPs and the other staff conformed to the new trend.

    \"Hey, Gram, what''s up with all those jackets?\" He asked the stocky new guy and the only one who wore a shabby, slightly familiar-looking mech-suit instead of the disco jacket.

    \"The boss''s mom is up. That lady started a new fashion trend all on her own.\"

    \"Do you mean Auntie Flo? Small white lady with short hair and an unhealthy obsession with toasters?\"

    He nodded.

    \"I guess we have to buy some mirror balls.\"

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Training Coffin

    Mistress Lekaahine looked over her domain.

    The cellar was barely lit, just enough to see the contours of the people who hung in chains on the walls.

    The background sounds were groaning and exclamations of pleasure and pain accentuated by the snaps of whips, music to her ears.

    \"Mistress, I discovered a new toy.\" Her bare-chested favorite slave assistant knelt in front of her.

    \"Speak!\"

    \"It is a coffin lined with tasers. The victim can get chained to it and stands on a vibrating platform.\"

    \"I love electroshocks! And you can do a lot of fascinating things with vibrations. Order it!\"

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Stehaufmaennchen Game

    Miles started his UFC Career one and a half years ago. Like many talented Canadian fighters, he went to the states for the big bucks.

    His debut fight went well. He knocked out his opponent in round two without receiving significant damage.

    The next appointment didn''t go that well. Miles lost narrowly but tore one of the ligaments in his knee.

    While he rehabilitated, a major change happened in the world of combat sports.

    One of his coaches said, you can train for combat, but you can''t practice combat. Martial arts destroy you when you perform them.

    That changed with the advent of the brain-wave virtual technology. You can log in and fight to your heart''s content without the fear of injury or overtraining.

    The skill level of his competitors rose rapidly.

    Eagerly, Miles ordered a capsule and logged in, only to realize that he sucked at virtual fighting and not only at fighting, but he failed even to walk a straight line.

    The problem was his synchronization. He started at 23 percent.

    Day after day, he did katas and hit the bags. First, the sync rose one point a day, then half a point, one point in three days, and at 48 percent, it stopped growing at all.

    He researched and found specialists to help him. His sync grew again, albeit slowly.

    Ballet lessons, balancing a pen on his pinky finger while standing on one leg, breathing exercises he did it all and paid more and more money for increasingly outlandish methods.

    Finally, he hit 75 percent. The forums said that regular people didn''t feel any discomfort at this rate. But he was an athlete and knew his body well. The small delays and imprecisions disturbed and distracted him more than his former inability to throw a straight punch.

    When his last increase was over two weeks ago, Miles put aside his pride and registered for a beginner course in Jiu-Jitsu. His stand-up game was top-notch, but his grappling could use some improvement. While he was handicapped, he could use the time to firm up his foundations.

    Furthermore, he hit the jerky bulletin boards again. He found a new entry by one of the most active members, RadLana Sorrow. She had tried as much shady crap as he with even less success and documented it.

    This video was about a granny who explained that the crucial point wasn''t what you did, but that you should communicate your intentions clearly to the system.

    He laughed bitterly. Wouldn''t it be great if it were that easy?

    But then RadLana showed her numbers, and her sync had risen by over one percent!

    ''I''ll give it a try. One hour. I''ve attempted so much ridiculous shit that one hour of talking to myself or this mysterious ''system'' won''t be my ticket to the looney train.''

    \"System. I''m going to train my sync rate.\"

    One hour later, his synchronization had risen by half a point. In the next few days, it had gone up by three percent. Every few hours, he checked RadLana''s feed for more information. He even considered hiring a private eye to find out the username of ''Auntie Flow''.

    At last, RadLana posted a new entry. The auntie had developed a game for training.

    Immediately, he went to the marketplace and looked for it. With 50 VirDos, it was pitifully cheap compared to the fees he paid for the experts. Naturally, he checked the reviews, there were quite a few negative ones, but they all referred to the prizing of the seller, not the product. You could print it for only 1 VirDos or buy it in the Cetviwos-Shop for 2 VirDias. After Miles discovered that the seller was RadLana, he bought it from the marketplace. Five dollars was a good tip for all the work she put in for the jerky community.

    The game was a colorful column with a creepy looking doll on top. On the packaging was printed in big letters: \"You have to announce to the system that you are following the rules of the game to train your synchronization.\" He nodded; he knew the drill by now.

    Miles checked the manual. It was short and easy to comprehend and boiled down to hit the glowing part of the tumbler with the body part the dolls indicates. When the knee of the doll glowed, and the blue stripe of the tower lightened up, you had to hit the blue area with your knee.

    There was a warning at the bottom of the text: Do not make up your own rules without informing the system; otherwise, your synchronization may sink!

    Miles thought that was pretty logical. If the system thought you would hit something according to the game rules, but you decided to hit something different, it will get confused whether it interpreted your motion in the right way.

    \"System, I will play the Stehaufmaennchen game according to the rules to raise my synchronization!\" He declared confidently, before hitting the start button.

    Until now, he had seen the sync training as a burden, but the Stehaufmaenchen-Game was fun.

    Not only did he enjoy the normal tasks like hitting it with your foot or fist, but every time it wanted an impossible maneuver like tapping the top of the column with your butt, he grew excited. Those tasks made his rate rise like a rocket.

    He wished that the Stehaufmaennchen could be bought in real life as well. The guys in the gym would love it.

    ''Flowing Flowers. I will remember your name, coach. I owe you big time.''

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    If you have nothing to brag about you can still show off this-Toaster

    \"Ey, bro. You''d better bought something da pest with our last funds!\" The barbarian decked out in fur threatened while gesturing with his ax.

    \"Relax. I''ve got you.\" The thief dressed in black answered and fetched the item from his inventory.

    The barbarian, a perky witch, a sharply dressed magician, and a severe druid, looked at his hands.

    \"Are you kidding?\" The dark-haired beauty with the broom asked.

    \"Is that ... no ... you wouldn''t.\" the druid stammered.

    \"Bleep you, bleep your mother, bleep your father, bleep your sister, bleep your dog, bleep your bleeping goldfish!\" The barbarian added.

    The golden shine of the item and little rainbows from the diamonds graced their faces.

    \"This is the toaster of wealth and prosperity!\" The thief announced it like it was the holy grail. Then he inserted two pieces of bread in the toaster an activated it.

    \"The item-description says, it is called ''If you have nothing to brag about you can still show off this''-Toaster. It seems fitting for our group.\" The druid stated.

    \"My nice shiny money! What has this idiot done with you?\" The magician cried.

    \"Hey, hey, hear me out. This is our ticket to riches beyond your imagination.\"

    The party rolled their eyes at him.

    \"We all know about the Diamond mines, right?\"

    \"Sure, we went there, and what loot did we get? Pickaxes!\"

    \"One diamond dropped for me!\" The witch interjected.

    Meanwhile, the thief spread peanut butter over the toasts.

    \"Because you are always lucky.\" The mage added jealously.

    \"And now we all will be lucky and rich!\" The thief pointed at the toasts.

    Name: Richly toasted Peanut-Sandwich

    Description: Toasted by the most luxurious home appliance in the Cetwiwos and topped with a golden spread. This toast attracts everything gold or glimmering.

    Effects: Buff. Increases drop rate of gold and especially precious stones.

    The party stared again at the toaster, but this time with awe in their gazes.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Granny''s Knickers - Skateboard

    Ali Hawks leaned back on his chair, puffed on his cigar, and grinned.

    Sales were looking good, and admissions of new skins spiked to an unprecedented high. Every popular designer had created a skin using the Simulation PP Collision Handling and the Intensity Meter, Flora''s interface technologies.

    The customers were hungry for more, and the bulletin board had a whole new category for posting the attempts of maxing out the intensity.

    \"Boss, what I admire the most about you is your eye for people. You always find the best ones like this Flowing Flowers!\" RollWithRock said while browsing the stats. He had long pink dreadlocks, whore a matching mini skirt, green leggings, and a yellow crop top. \"And me. Can I get a raise?\"

    \"Nope.\"

    \"Then tell me, at least, how did you find her? Nobody in the biz has ever heard of her. Her in-game-shop is brand new, and she offers no other skins than the ones she registered recently.\"

    \"You know her. You once traped her chair with super glue.\"

    \"Unfortunately, that only narrows down the pool of suspects from several hundred to a few dozens.\" Satisfied RollwithRock leaned back in his chair with his hands behind his head. \"Ah, my glorious misspend youth!\"

    \"The last one. She was the last one you ever booby-trapped.\"

    RollwithRock fell from his chair. \"The ninja lecturer?\"

    Ali Hawks nodded remembered the good old times fondly.

    \"Listen up, you bunch of misfits. We need to behave like professionals if we want to be successful!\" Gina, the web manager, screamed in an attempt to drown out the crowd of angry young men.

    \"We are plenty successful without a corporate lackey telling us what to do!\" RollwithRock screamed back, and his colleagues hollered in agreement.

    \"Friends, read Sun Tzu. He said, Know your enemy and know yourself and you can sell a hundred skateboards without disaster.\" Ali said, grinning. \"I contacted the agency to send us a real designer to tell us about design lifecycle management. No salesperson bullshit, no bookish bore, but someone who works with these methods every day. Give them a chance.\"

    His boys and girls still grumbled, but the noise level in the room sank.

    \"And I want you on your best behavior! No childish pranks!\" Gina added.

    Regretfully, Ali shook his head. That was the wrong tone to talk to skaters.

    Ali stood on the balcony and smoked a joint when he saw a woman with a small child in tow approaching his shop.

    The woman wore a long woolen skirt and a blouse with a pink slip-on and jacket over it. Ali estimated that she was around 40 years old and the little boy maybe around six years. The boy had African ancestry and wore a ninja turtle hoodie and held a big can of orange juice in his hand.

    The woman kneeled next to the boy and started speaking.

    \"Alright, sweety. Do you remember what we talked about?\"

    \"Ninja Turtles?\"

    \"Regarding my work today.\"

    \"I will be silent like a ninja! And play and read and be even more silent!\"

    \"Excellent! You know that you are the most important person in my life, but sometimes I have to pretend that other people are the most important. Now is one of those times. We will both pretend that the customers are kings, alright?\"

    \"Do I have to bow?\"

    \"No.\"

    \"Are they more important than toasters?\"

    \"No.\"

    \"But, I''m more important than toasters?\"

    \"Of course!\"

    \"Good!\"

    \"Alright, wish me luck!\" She kissed the boy, while he calmly opened the lid of his can and poured it over his mother''s pink slip-on.

    \"Why did you do that?\" she exclaimed.

    \"It''s a blessing! Hub told me they pour trinks over ships and babies for good luck!\"

    \"Oh, sweety, not over mothers ... \" The woman took out some wipes, but it didn''t change the fact that her front was soaked. \"Are you ready to listen to your first lecture about designing?\"

    The little boy nodded thoughtfully, and they walked towards the entrance of the job.

    Amused, Ali shook his head and walked down to greet the guest speaker.

    \"Hello, I''m Flora Fluss, and this is my son Robby. The kindergarten closed unexpectantly. I hope you don''t mind that I brought him with me.\"

    \"Of course not! Please come in. You can call me Ali. I''m the founder of this shop.\" Ali bent down to Robby. \"And who is your favorite Ninja Turtle?\"

    \"Leonardo,\" Robby mumbled with wide eyes.

    \"He is my choice, too. Katanas are the way to go!\" Ali winked.

    Instantly, the little guy looked at him like he was the second coming of Splinter.

    Flora rolled her eyes. \"Donatello is the smartest. You can''t deny that!\"

    While comparing Ninja Turtles, they entered the facilities and walked to the conference room. When Ali opened the door, a thick cloud of sweet-smelling smoke wafted towards them.

    Immediately, Flora pulled Robby back.

    \"Open the windows. We have a child as a workshop assistant present.\"

    \"Did you hear that sweety, you just got promoted to workshop assistant.\"

    \"May I douse the fire?\" Robby asked enthusiastically.

    Al needed a second to understand what Robby meant, but then connected the dots and chuckled. The little guy thought that the conference room was burning down because of all the smoke.

    \"Of course, you may. Come on. We fill up a bucket of water in the kitchen.\" Ali held out his hand and glanced at Flora. She nodded at him.

    \"I stay here and prepare the presentation.\" She entered the room confidently.

    For a moment, Ali doubted that he should leave her alone, facing the mob that he called his employes on good days. But then he remembered that she was a woman who wasn''t fazed when someone baptized her with orange juice shortly before a customer meeting.

    They filled half a bucket with water, and Robby carried it proudly back. He had to exert himself, but his small face scrunched with determination to see it through.

    When they entered the room, Flora was verbally ripping apart a picture of three naked men having sex with the title, \"We don''t need no education!\".

    Without interrupting her scaring review, she ALT+TABed the picture away when she saw Robby approaching.

    \"To summit up: the rule of three in conjunction with the golden ratio would elevate the design to a professional level.\" She concluded her lecture.

    Her audience stared at her with remarkably wide eyes if you consider the amount of weed they had to have consumed to produce the thick clouds. Now all the windows were opened, and the air was clear with only a bit of smell lingering behind.

    Ali smirked. He thought the lady had them under control until he noticed the chair glued to the back of her skirt when she stood up.

    The skaters giggled, and someone clapped RollwithRock on the back.

    \"I see you wanted to introduce me to a new invention, the inbuilt chair,\" Flora stated while striding along the stage. \"Not bad. You can sit down comfortably everywhere you go. Now, who can help me find my real presentation? Maybe the gentleman with the pink hair?\"

    Smirking, RollwithRock walked to the desk. Considering the child, he didn''t pull up the other spoofed powerpoints but the real one.

    Meanwhile, Flora arranged a pillow, some books, and action figures in the corner of the room for Robby.

    When RollwithRock wanted to go back to his seat, Flora turned around fast. The chair crashed against the shins of the pink-haired man. He groaned and rubbed the hurting area.

    \"A drawback of huge accessories is their unwieldiness,\" Flora stated calmly and swang her hips again. This time she hit the bullseye, and RollwithRock went down crying.

    The whole room took in a collective breath. \"You never know what you will destroy by casually moving.\"

    Ali was equally horrified and, at the same time, filled with admiration. He pointed at the midsection of RollwithRock. \"Just empty the bucket there, Robby. He needs all the cooling he can get.\"

    Dutifully, Robby walked over.

    \"Put some water in his face as well, sweety. It is red colored. That can''t be healthy.\" Flora added. While Robby watered the sobbing guy, Flora stepped out of her skirt.

    With her head held high, she stood just in blue tights with pink knickers shining through them and her orange juice strained pink top in front of the mostly male crowd of tweens.

    \"Scissors or a knife and a stapler, please.\" She commanded.

    When RollwithRock heard the word knife, he crawled with unprecedented speed back to his seed.

    A few moments later, Flora had cut free her skirt and stapled the resulting whole close. With a few more tactical placest incisions and masterful stapling, she transformed the boring dress into a piece of art.

    The rest of the workshop was a success. The Huffgrin employes didn''t hang on her lips because they were busy watching Robby simulate fights with his Ninja Turtles. Still, Ali had the impression that everyone profited immensely from the lecture.

    Even RollwithRock rated the workshop positive. \"If I could have watched someone play with Ninja Turtles during class, I wouldn''t have quit High School!\"

    After everyone went home, Ali Hawks crafted two skateboards. One with Ninja Turtles for the adorable child and one with the granny''s knickers pattern Flora used during the presentation for her. He sent it to her together with a voucher for a new skirt.

    Ali put the lady firmly in the two highest categories of his internal rating system: People who can get the impossible done and people you don''t ever want to piss off.

 94 2.0 Dear Diary â€“ Recap of Book One Flora Style

    \u003e\u003e\u003e Sunday Two, 30.06.2051

    Dear Diary,

    I want to tell you about my first week at the Cetviwos. Actually, I want to explain stuff to you, because explaining things is a form of learning and furthers comprehension. And I need comprehension badly!

    In the morning, I have read the diary of a crazy alchemist. I might have been a bit jealous of his ramblings. Just kidding. Aidan, don''t write words in caps no matter what.

    Let''s start with the beginning. I radically renovated my kitchen. I didn''t intend to, it happened when I mixed up my favorite hat with the cooking pot. My dear son Robby insisted I can''t live alone anymore. Of course, he is wrong about that. We figured out an alternative to a retirement home, the virtual reality.

    The VR is called Cetviwos. Cetviwos stands for Cet = CentralTank?that''s the company, which owns them?Vi = Virtual and Wos = Worlds.

    The access point to the VR are pods, which look like coffins. While you lie in them, your consciousness gets transported into another world via brainwave technology. That''s a fancy way of saying they are reading our minds. Maybe they write too.

    This gets scarier and scarier. I know nothing, but that I know nothing. It just seems kind of logical to me. How can they know where a player wants to go? They have to transform the WILL (you may write "will" in caps Aidan) to an action. In my book, that''s mind-reading.

    Now to the writing part. I''m pretty sure they don''t have heat coils in the coffins, okay maybe they do, let''s take an even more improbable example: smells. They sure as burned toast in hell haven''t included 1000s of smells in the boxes. Therefore they must have an interface, which simulates the smells right into the brains of their clients. That''s me. And my son. And my best friend.

    I believe there is a difference between simulating external stimuli and simulating internal emotions. So the question is open if they can mind-control us. But with total control over external stimuli, you can easily facilitate conditioning.

    The most terrible thing is that VR is really fun. I''m already addicted. Besides, we wash our bodies regularly, at least I did before entering the pod, so why not let my brain get washed too? Honestly, I''m kind of interested in their methods and results, but I would feel better if I only risked my bit of tattered grey matter to find out more and not my sons!

    But I''m not finished talking about them reading my brain! They have an unhealthy obsession with it.

    Ten years ago, I beta-tested software for CentralTank. You could get goodies by giving them access to your personal data. Aidan, forget what I told about writing words in caps. I need more CAPS to express myself adequately. I summarize: THEY WANT BRAINZ. I was totally addicted to the CAD-System, not only because of the incredible user experience but also because of the charming company of my AI assistant Evai.

    Okay, I didn''t want to go that deep into the subject, but this VR stuff was incredible then and is even more so now. You can do MAGIC! With padding thoughts with the right amount of willpower, I can move objects telekinetically or reshape them. I tell you, it''s a rush. You feel like you have the power of gods in your hands ¡­ or in your mind ¡­ at your fingertips. Whatever, let''s go with easily accessible.

    I can still do this type of magic in the Cetviwos, at least where magic isn''t suppressed. Actually, I haven''t tested it in a prohibited area. Aidan, write it on the to-do list.

    Sorry, I lost my train of thought. Where were we?

    Thank you, Aidan.

    BRAINZ. I followed the same strategy in the Cetviwos as in my old software: Just sign every bit of privacy away for some nifty features.

    I didn''t think about what they would do with all the data. I just assumed the usual stuff, personalized ads, or sharpening the algorithms. Imagine my surprise when I ran into myself.

    Yes, myself. Okay, I haven''t met her, but I got messages from the AI version of myself. They built an artificial intelligence with all the BRAINZ.

    I should have told the week chronically. That wasn''t the first time they interpreted what they could do with my data too freely. Let''s return to the beginning.

    I didn''t know CentralTank was behind my old software. The evidence mounted during character creation.

    (By the way, I hold the record for the longest time spent in character creation and received sweet rewards for my efforts: I train attributes and mana skills around five times faster than other people.)

    I found out because not only seemed the VR software familiar, and my old commands worked, but also I discovered my design works were scattered all over the world: Fountains, Spaceships, Runes, something with carpentry they admitted to, but I have yet to remember, my workshop design and last but not least, my countenance.

    Yes, the gorgeous *cough* face of yours truly is no longer unique. Evailyn, a goddess of the game, used it. I don''t mind. She is the same AI who helped me years ago in the beta-software. At least I think so. I''m pretty sure going by her behavior and feel, but there are timeline issues, which I don''t understand.

    Additionally, she is the Goddess of household appliances. I would have joined her cause even if I hadn''t known her before. Because we are friends, she gave me a conveyed class, Champion. I haven''t really understood what''s so special about it. Something with influencing what kind of power is in charge of regulating the storyline¡­

    Urgh, understanding my job should probably on my to-do list. Alright, I should have already checked it, but better late than never?Especially because I have to defend the class from other candidates next Sunday Two.

    What if the competition is like those Miss Universe pageants with a question section, and somebody asks me about it!

    I can visualize my self standing in front of a microphone, wearing my trusty old training mech-suit (and a sash with little toasters on it), and a jury member asks: "What would you do as a Champion of the Yellow High Faction?"

    "Building toasters."

    "How would you further the agenda of the Yellow High Faction?"

    "Building more toasters."

    That wouldn''t fly well. Okay, if Evailyn sits in the jury, maybe it would get me some points.

    I don''t even know the goals of the yellow faction! Please tell me about them, Aidan.

    Hahaha. Oh, dear, really? CentralTank should have spent a bit of time pulling an agenda out of their butts. How hard could it be?

    Where was I?

    Right, CentralTank stole my designs. I received a lot of VirDias as compensation. Don''t get me started on the currencies of the Cetviwos! And the taxes!

    What else to say about them?

    Their policy towards AIs is a bit strange. Not only did they create AIs out of real persons, but they also treat their regular AIs with impunity. I bought Aidan in the Cetviwos shop, but one of the AI handlers of Central Tank sent Aitoshuri to me. The accompanying letter confused me. They continuously play games with her?lower her rating, then raising it again. Sometimes they threaten to delete her. Now, that I speak about it, maybe it''s because I shouldn''t look at CentralTank as one entity but as multiple persons with diverging goals. I only met the AI-Handler Iddy, who seemed nice enough and the Headmaster, a gloomy dude, and the Doge, a business clown.

    My AIs have strong opinions about the Headmaster. Aidan fears him, and Aito dislikes him.

    We will see what developments will take place. At least when I obtain the AI version of myself, I will know more.

    Let''s wait and see. As long as they don''t mess with my current AIs, Aidan, Haidan, and Aitoshuri, I''m perfectly alright with forgetting they even exist.

    Next topic: my son Robby. He is the one who introduced me to the virtual world. He leads the clan Riverstones?a company specialized in helping rich people level up. Mia calls it "Babysitting". She is one of his employees and my henchgirl. Yes, I have a henchgirl!

    The clan Riverstones isn''t faring that well. I only deduced it from hints. On the other hand, I just left a clan party, and the mood was very good. Even though it was exhausting to be nice to Robby''s terrible fianc¨¦e, Ressa. I will channel some goodies in Robby''s direction when I get away with it without appearing to meddlesome. On Monday Two, I''ll build a training facility for the clan.

    Well, training, another major topic in my week. I spent a lot of time to optimize my training. You need to train to grow your stats, but I''m no gym-rat. So I built a training coffin and training tunnel to work out while crafting and sleeping. The results are pretty neat. I exceeded the usual stats of a level one player, and I''m now a Mini-Master. Hahaha, cute. That''s the name for level one players with abnormally high stats. If I figure out how the rest of the game works, I''ll be fine.

    I put my stats to test on the Hero''s Entrance and cleaned up a garbage themed instance and caught the culprit, albeit with some difficulties.

    At the beginning of the week, I had problems with letting go of my real-life fears. It''s hard to acclimate at my age to the concept of not being mortal. Training free-running and martial arts are helping in this regard. I''m now able to fight and take risks. I''m not sure how long I will continue with the training, but I noticed as soon as I take a break, my fears come back. Maybe in a month or two, I will be fully immersed in this new reality.

    Unfortunately, I had too little time to build many toasters. First, I finished an old design, a showy thing of gold and diamonds, then I designed one to digest the Metaworld, a boring standard one, and at last flying one. Only the last toaster I love. Additionally, I built a robot toaster, which toasts traps and throws them. Well, I promise to do better next week!

    I think that was my week. Now, I''m ready to explore the Cradle, the world for level 1- level 5 players.

    Another thing I haven''t figured out are classes. I obtained a bunch of them, mostly because I wanted to connect my favorites so far: the Champion, the Technician, and the mage classes.

    Only Animator is on my to to-do list for the Cradle. Right, Aidan, I forgot I wanted a melee class to support close combat. I should probably pick up more of the divine classes as a divine Champion.

    Thank you for reminding me about the quest from the librarian. It felt like a lifetime ago. We are definitely going to do it. I''m excited to find out what class System thinks fits me.

    Quest: Take the Sweeping-Blow aptitude test on the Cradle.

    Description: Visit the Talpica Testing Center to find out which classes suit you and where your talents lie.

    Rewards:

    Bonus XP for all activities in the test

    Voucher for recommended classes

    Penalty: None.

    Difficulty: D.

    Okay, now you know why I have so many classes. There never seems to be an end to the exciting things Cetviwos has to offer.

    But first things first! I will tidy up Evailyn''s church tomorrow. Those arrogant bishops can''t be suitable for a smooth-running operation.

    \u003c\u003c\u003c Sunday Two, 30.06.2051

 95 2.1 Temple Cleaning

    Flora did her daily free-running, martial arts, and technician activities. Although she started at 8.a.m, it was noon before she finished. She was considering toning down her daily activities now that a whole new world, the Cradle, was hers to explore.

    Yesterday, Flora had received a quest from Evailyn. She dreaded doing social things like investigating but was willing to beat up some bishops.

    Quest: Set My House In Order (Evailyn)

    Description: Power Plays are disrupting the operation of Evailyn''s church. Corruption and selfishness are running rampant. Identify the unfaithful council members and evict them from the church.

    Temporary Power: Excommunicate. Description: Severes the formal ties to a church.

    Possible Rewards: Reputation gain with Church of Evailyn, Faith

    Possible Penalties: Reputation loss with Church of Evailyn, Loss of Faith

    Time-Limit: 1 week

    Difficulty: B

    The church resided in the Holy District of the Capital. Flora needed a while to jog from the Talpica Portal to the church. Near the portal, the sidewalks were stuffed with people, and Flora couldn''t reach the speed she wanted to. She wore the octopussy like a backpack because she didn''t want to lose it or other people to trip over it.

    The city had broad streets filled with the same anachronistic assortment of vehicles as the Metaworld. Over the roofs flying crafts floated through the air, but there was an open corridor between the streets and them.

    "It''s because of traffic regulations. You can only rise and sink in the designated zones. Usually, they are in the middle of the streets between sidestreets." Aidan explained the strange phenomenon to her.

    "We need a ride¡­" Flora didn''t say more because her mind filled up with ideas. Motorcycles, hoover bikes, flying treasure chests, and toaster spaceships flitted through it. Aidan had to add sound effects to the arrows he guided Flora with because she kept missing turns.

    When Flora reached the temple, her thoughts were still preoccupied (a flying Jacuzzi!), and she almost ran into some guys blocking the door.

    "Oh, sorry, dears."

    "You are not welcome in the temple of the Goddess Evailyn. Please leave, Ma''am." The guy in the shiniest armor said.

    Flora gazed at their badges. They were three C rated temple guards, and one D rated priest. Their levels reached from level 50 to 150, but the zone squeezed them to level 1. All of Talpica was a level one zone.

    "Why?"

    "Orders, Ma''am."

    "Concerning me, or is no one allowed to enter?" Flora pitied them. They were just pawns in a game played by the bishops.

    "The council commanded us to block you specifically, Ma''am."

    "Pardon, dears, I have to enter. I''m the Champion, for now at least." Flora activated Kinetic Shield.

    The guards first blocked her with arms, but Flora just ignored them. Then a male Fireling hugged her from behind, a female Woodling grabbed her arm, and the Waterling speaker positioned himself in front of her.

    Flora carefully took one step after another. She pulled the Fireling and Woodling with her and pushed the waterling. Meanwhile, the fourth guard, a waterling priest, gaped at her.

    The boots of the guards screeched as they got dragged on the floor.

    Flora was strong, but moving three buff guards in armor would soon overburden her. After she inserted two more nocks in her mech-suit, she still struggled but progressed slowly into the corridor to the main hall.

    "Stop in the name of the Goddess Evailyn!" The portly bishop Hannes Dysian whom she met yesterday and had nothing good to say about, was in the main hall again.

    "Don''t misuse her name. I proceed in the name of the Goddess Evailyn," Flora had fun saying in her most theatrical voice.

    Her phone rang. Flora groaned half from exertion half from the lousy timing. The Fireling and Woodling had lost their footing but still clung to her. She was dragging them while the waterling pushed against her.

    "Hello, Darling! Why do I see the back of some guy''s head? Are you doing interesting things?" The video window with Eddie''s face rose above the guard in front of her, and his laughter filled the church. "I might have said before when you''d gone overboard with the toaster theme that you should accessorize LIKE a human being and not WITH human beings. This could become a trend. One guy as belt, one girl as an armbrace. The frontal guy doesn''t suit you. Replace him with someone smaller; maybe a Woodling would go better with your eyes."

    Flora grunted and took another step. "What''s up, Eddie. I''m busy."

    The bishop dashed away. The priest followed Flora''s pile of humans, scratching his head.

    "My timing is fantastic! Your sight is a ray of light in my shabby day. I have news, which will ruin your day, too. I prefer to deliver them in person, if possible, today. When are you free?"

    "Tonight, eight o''clock?"

    "Great, I''m coming to your hot spring. I''ll bring snacks." Eddie disconnected with a wave.

    Flora reached the main hall and stopped.

    "Dear Goddess Evailyn, please task your followers with quests to further our goals." Flora had discussed with Evailyn for what to use her Champion praying power this week.

    Gods had a limited amount of quests they could give out. If Flora prayed for it, Evailyn''s weekly limit would be raised from one to ten quests on that day.

    The Waterling guard abruptly stepped back, causing Flora to stagger.

    "Guards. Stay clear of our Champion! I received a quest from our Goddess to help support the Champion on her holy endeavor." Tali Rondas commanded.

    Flora''s arm and torso regained their freedom, and she stretched.

    "Really, Sarge? She is the Champion?" The priest scratched head. "I don''t understand it. Why are the bishops so against her?"

    "We will find out today," Flora answered. "Lead me to the rooms where the records are kept."

    Flora knew only two things about the investigation, one from TV-show CSI: you can solve anything with DNA prints and the other from the hunt after Al Capone: Follow the Money.

    Although she was open to the idea of collecting DNA samples, she deemed the second strategy more fitting for the situation.

    "What records?"

    "Bills, salaries, financial data."

    The guards looked at each other and shrugged.

    "I guess every bishop keeps their own record."

    "Round up every council member and lead them into the great hall. Only say to them, that I will prove to them I''m the Champion and that I''m on a quest for our Goddess for which I need their help."

    Flora impressed upon them to be quiet about her interest in the records and told them to fetch Deriga too.

    "The temple has a local area network. It''s private, but the security looks quite shoddy." Aidan''s voice sounded disapproving, which made Flora smile.

    "Hack it." She connected his jack to the lockpick and two Firefly-Toasters, then a third one with Aito. The robots consisted of a toaster, a small bowl of jam, a grabbler, some sensors, and two pairs of insectoid wings. She wanted to monitor the proceedings in the temple and make a good impression at once. Letting her spies distribute delicious toast covered both requisites.

    Flora set the hungry chest in the corner of the central hall and connected Aidan to it. She put all the hacking tools in it, out of sight. Then she fetched two gizmos she bought for the occasion.

    Name: Globe of Revelation

    Type: Artifact

    Regular-Mode: 5 OV Mana-Regeneration

    Effect: All active mana skills and cast mana skills in a circumference of 2 m will appear above the Globe.

    Rating: A

    The device had revealed its usefulness by annoying the Central Tank lawyers a few days ago. Robby had borrowed the original from Flora. She hadn''t bothered to ask him to return it and bought a new one. When she searched the marketplace for it, she discovered another Globe with even better powers.

    Name: Globe of Honesty

    Type: Artifact

    Regular-Mode: 5 OV Mana-Regeneration

    Effect: Glows red when a lie is stated

    Tier 1 (Upgradeable)

    Rating: A

    Flora had considered hiding the orbs as well, but she decided on transparency. She had no illusions about her ability to be sneaky. A long list of failed surprise gifts and parties were proof of her inability to hide even the most socially acceptable secrets.

    The sound of angry footsteps announced the arrival of the bishops.

    A crowd of young novices had formed around the door but parted to let the council members pass. Hannes Dysian had returned with Afstira Nomizo and Ellaciel Zander in tow.

    Dysian''s face was an unhealthy shade of red, which was exacerbated by his natural blue skin color. Ellaciel Zander had straight silver hair, which framed her austere silver face like a steel curtain. Nomizo trailed behind them. She was older than her colleagues, closer to Flora''s age. Flora hadn''t mastered judging the ages of the elemental races accurately, but the barklike qualities of Woodlings'' skin grew more pronounced.

    "You dared to come back!" Dysian said between gasps for air. "Your charade will end today!"

    The females nodded, including Flora.

    "We are waiting for the other council members to arrive," Flora said. "Meanwhile, we can do a round of introductions. I would love to start, but I''m sure the others would profit from getting to know me as well, so we wait for them for my turn. Please, Bishop Nomizo, tell me about yourself, your favorite home appliance, and your role in the church."

    "I''m responsible for-" Nomizo started.

    "You shouldn''t go along with her demands!" Dysian said.

    The Globe of Honesty stayed colorless. In Flora''s opinion, Dysian''s statement was as unwise as wrong, but maybe it didn''t count as a lie because he believed it.

    "Oh, shut up." Nomizo sneered at the blustering Waterling. "It''s pretty obvious she is the Champion. I''m through with playing up to the farce that she is not. What do we profit by denying it? We just look like fools¡­ let me correct that sentence: we are already looking like fools. Even if she is not the Champion or will lose the title, it''s clear to me that our Goddess likes her. So a bit of politeness will go a long way."

    "Thank you for your professionalism, Bishop," Flora said, but she wondered if the magical trinkets caused Nomizo''s sudden support.

    "I''m responsible for the coordination of the church''s activities between the worlds. That''s the reason I was the one visiting you in the Metaworld. My favorite home appliances are leaf blowers."

    "Thank you. What about you, Bishop Zander?"

    The Metalling stared silently at Flora. Flora couldn''t read her facial expression. It was like looking at a silver statue.

    "Your duty is to stare emotionless?" Flora guessed then grinned. "Is this a game of charade? I have to warn you, we are great at it."

    "Ha, I knew it!" Hannes yelled. "You are playing a charade!"

    "Okay, I should have been more specific. My team is great at solving charades, not executing them." Flora smirked at him. "I don''t like playing games. I try to be as straight as possible, but it''s hard if I crash into a wall of disbelief."

    "I appreciate if we would all cool down and stick to the facts," Nomizo said and pointed at Zander. "Her job is education."

    "My job is education. It''s not your job to educate the pretend-Champion." Zander''s face was still like a lake.

    The orb didn''t show any change in color. Flora checked her settings if she missed pressing the on-button.

    "Then do your job!" The women glared at each other.

    "Alright, what about you, Bishop Dysian?"

    Dysian took a deep breath, and Flora was sure he would go on another tirade, but a loud voice interrupted him.

    "Welcome, Champion Flowers! I''m so sorry I have missed your last visit." The man looked similar to Hannes Dysian in stature, race, and hairstyle. However, he looked like the original, while Dysian was the cheap copy.

    Name: Raffas Razo

    Class: High-Priest

    Title: Pope

    Level: 1 (250)

    Rating: A

    RGS: 25

    "Thank you." Flora didn''t expect such a warm welcome, without the Globe contradicting it, and her face showed it. But she was attentive enough to notice the other bishops didn''t fare any better. Dysian went slack-jawed, Nomizo''s wrinkles grew deeper, and Zander''s face vibrated as if it was going to burst.

    Flowing Flowers to Aidan: "Show me the Globe of Honesty in my HUD. I want to watch it and the Council at the same time. Save video feeds of their facial expressions for further review."

    Behind the Pope, a corpulent Waterling arrived. His speed exceeded his colleagues, but despite his girth, he wasn''t out of breath.

    "Sorry, I''m late to the party! So nice to meet you, Champion. I''m so excited that our small church has one! It will bring good things for us, surely. I can''t wait for the next Game of Powers." The cheerful newcomer said, and the Globe of Honesty remained dark.

    Name: Mino Irden

    Class: Abbot

    Level: 1 (250)

    Rating: B

    RGS: 10

    The last member of the Council, Captain Tomos Ceart, entered the hall.

    "Good afternoon."

    Finally, the orb glowed red.

 96 2.2 Temple Cleaning - Favorite Home Appliance

    The council members and Flora stood in a circle in the main hall of the headquarters of the Church of Evailyn.

    In the middle sat a small table Aidan''s console and with two orbs, the Globe of Revalation, which disclosed every spell used in its vicinity and the Globe of Honesty, which shimmered red when someone told a lie.

    Several novices, monks, priests, and paladins filed into the hall but kept a respectful distance to the Council. Flora spotted Deriga in the crowd and smiled at her. While some of her colleagues stared at Flora with open hostility, the majority looked curious, some even excited.

    Behind Flora stood the hungry chest, and at her feet, grouched Aito''s octopussy. Its hide was tinged in the same tone of yellow as the robes of the bishops. The camera tentacles pointed in the directions of the faces of the congregation. Aito collected video footage of everybody''s expression.

    Now that the Council had assembled, Flora was unsure about whether it was the right move to collect everyone at the start of the investigation. In Agatha Christi''s books, they always did it at the end. But Flora wanted to prevent them from destroying the records before Aidan could hack into their network. Of course, there was still the possibility of non-digital records. But who would hold information on actual paper these days? Only ancient bureaucracies like the government¡­ or the church. ''Oh well, let''s provide Aidan with enough time to crack the firewalls.''

    "Thank you very much for the welcome. I''m here to prove to you that I''m the Champion of Evailyn and to discuss our further cooperation. But first, we should introduce ourselves. I''m interested in your responsibilities in the church and your favorite home appliance. Does anyone want to start?" Flora''s voice rang through the hall.

    "Please take the beginning, Champion." The Pope finally said.

    "My name is Flowing Flowers. I''m the Champion of Evailyn, and my favorite home appliance is the toaster. I like all home appliances but the toaster the most. In my world, they reached the limit of innovation a long time ago. They can''t make a qualitative leap in function or usability anymore. They are a pinnacle existence among utilities. I toiled all of my life to stretch the pinnacle just a little bit further."

    Meanwhile, Aidan had entered the first layer of the network and received permission to go deeper.

    Flora described her life''s work of 50 years. The designs, the tiny improvement of functionality, and the joy of toasting the countenance of yourself, idols, or enemies on a piece of bread and eating it.

    "The pleasure of having a toast is one of the daily luxuries of the modern human. You wake up, your mood may vary, your prospects for the day may vary. Maybe you need a cup of coffee to be able to speak or even think a coherent sentence. But what is the next step? Having a piece toast! What do you prepare for your kids or your partner as a snack? A toast! It''s the symbol of basic care and, simultaneously, the expression of deepest love even in hectic circumstances like mornings in a busy family.

    Dysian glanced between her and the Pope. His puzzled look was caused either by Flora''s lecture or by the benign nodding Pope Razo. Zander''s face was still unreadable. Nomizo looked thoughtful. The Abbot Irden was nodding as well, while the Paladin Ceart stared at her unblinkingly.

    "Do you have a sweet tooth, or are more of the mix pickles with ham kind? It doesn''t matter. Toast goes well with both, with everything really. Salmon, caviar, ham, cheese, jam, Nutella, Vegemite, peanut butter, and vegetable spreads. The toast supplements the rarest and the most common ingredients."

    Flora fetched two dishes stacked with sandwiches. Two tiny streamers, one with SWEET and one with HEARTY written on them, stuck in the top of the pile. She passed them around. While she had only prepared the two plates for the Council, she carried enough Nutella and cheese toasts to feed an army, in this case, the clergy of the church. Telekinetically she moved two boxes to the crowd. Additionally, one of her spy toasters distributed its load as well.

    Flora continued with the part she had already said to Deriga in her cathedral. Home appliances equalized society and freed up the most precious resource of all, time.

    "It is no incident that toast is a synonym for wishing someone well. We toast to marriage, wins, and childbirth. We toast to life itself! As the toaster is the producer of toasts, it epitomizes the ability to cause events to celebrate."

    Glittery flakes fell from the ceiling to the heads of the clergy.

    "I believe in the Goddess Evailyn, in the holy toasters and the infinite value of home appliances."

    ***************

    You gained a new skill: Creed.

    Description: State your Faith to your Goddess, and your religious bonus will grow.

    Duration: 10 minutes for every believer who joins you.

    CD: 10 hours.

    ***************

    You gained a new achievement: Creating a Creed.

    Description: You created the Creed of the Holy Toasters for the Church of Evailyn.

    Rewards: + 1 OV Faith

    ***************

    "I believe in the Goddess Evailyn, in the holy toasters and the infinite value of home appliances." Deriga''s clear voice rose from the crowd.

    The clergy around her repeated the sentence, and from there, it spread.

    A glittering veil formed above of the clergy''s heads. Of the Council''s members, Irden, Ceart, Zander, and Nomizo had joined in and were affected by it. Dysian''s gaze darted between his colleagues, the Pope, and the rest of the clergy. As the other voices were finishing, he mumbled the sentence and was rewarded by a glow surrounding his head.

    Now nearly everybody but the Pope and a handful of the crowd spotted glimmering heads.

    Flowing Flowers to Aidan: "Remember the Names of the people who skipped the creed. I don''t know whether they are just shy, not prone to peer pressure, or more sinister reasons."

    "I would like to know more about you all. Especially what responsibilities you have in the church and your favorite household appliance. Bishop Nomizo already told me that she likes leafblowers. Who would like to go next?" Flora asked.

    Afstira had a satisfied smile on her lips while the other bishops looked even more uncomfortable than before. Understandable, who would want to go after the 20 minutes speech on toasters. Flora reckoned that they had insecurities about the awesomeness of their favorites because they couldn''t measure up to toasters.

    Meanwhile, the visual effects toned down.

    "I''ll go next!" Abbot Irden cheerfully exclaimed. "I''m the teacher and administrator for all the monks of our great church. My favorite appliance is not the hot pot like some of you might think." He paused and winked to the crowd, and the monks chuckled. Flora identified them by their attire. They wore, like the abbot, a yellow tunic with wide trousers and a sash.

    "We don''t believe you if you claim any other device, brother!" A young Fireling shouted, and the monks cheered louder. Flora grinned at the abbot. Being popular with the underlings was a big plus in her book.

    "My favorite home appliance are cleaning cabinets. Firstly, because I''m a messy eater and secondly because I like to nap after eating and not wash the dishes."

    "I believe you, brother." a Waterling nun chirped. "I know the state of your tunic after dinner."

    The monks laughed again, and the other clergy joined. The atmosphere of the room lightened up. Even Bishops Nomizo''s and Bishop Zander''s faces showed less harsh expressions.

    "I''m the leader of the paladin forces." Captian Ceart said. He didn''t smile, but his voice was measured and courteous. "My favorite household appliance is sharpening steel."

    "Education." Zander''s face had snapped back to a mask. "Broom."

    "Why do we go along with this farce?" Bishop Dysian complained. He prepared to complain more, but the Pope disrupted him with a hand gesture.

    "Please, dear colleague. I would like to know your favorite, too. I can''t believe we worked alongside all these years, and I don''t even know whether you like garden, kitchen, or home improvement the most!" Irden said.

    "Garden!" Dysian snapped. "Water Purifier."

    "Excellent choices." The Pope nodded to the round. "My choice is the smoothener."

    "What is that?" Flora asked, intrigued.

    "A device to remove the wrinkles in clothing." The Pope answered. Indeed, his yellow robes were nicely ironed.

    "Great. Now I''m prepared to prove to you that I''m the Champion of Evailyn. I''m open to your suggestions or tests. Unfortunately, one of my champion power is on cooldown, but if you like, I can demonstrate Rise to the Occasion. But I''m fine with any other test as well."

    "You have already proved yourself with the creed as part of the church of Evailyn. I believe you to be the Champion. I don''t require further proof," Ceart said.

    "Dito." Nomizo and Irden agreed.

    "Of course, I believe you as well. Just to clear any doubts, I would appreciate it if you showed us Call Upon the Goddess. And of course, it is always an honor to be in the presence of our Goddess."

    "This is the spell that is on cooldown." Flora was glad she mentioned the cooldown before. Otherwise, it would have sounded like a cheap excuse.

    "How unfortunate." Pope Razo said, and the Globe turned red.

    Flora raised her eyebrows. Maybe the Pope meant well, but his request bolstered the derision in Dysian''s face, and the murmurs of the crowd hinted that their doubts rose as well. Maybe he didn''t mean well. Flora thought that a man of his occupation should have a better grasp of his statements and their consequences. ''And why is the Globe registering the comment as a lie? It is unfortunate that I can''t use the spell to prove my championshipyness! Maybe because he thinks it is good that I can''t use it? Very peculiar.''

    Flora to Aidan: "That''s strike two against the Pope. I won''t even count the strikes against Dysian."

    "What about you Bishop Zander. How may I convince you?"

    "Rise to the Occasion would be sufficient."

    Flora cast the prayer and grew.

    "Ha! You overdid it. You are too tall for the prayer. This height would mean you have over 50 levels in Faith. I don''t believe a level 1 Earthling can reach so many!" Dysian looked hungry for confirmation to the Pope.

    Razo nodded. "Indeed. You are quite tall for a level 1 Champion."

    "So, you fault me for being too faithful?" Flora chuckled without mirth. "Alright, please suggest the next test."

    The Council was silent.

    Flora smirked. She took it as a cue to raise the stakes.

    "I have a quest from our Goddess to identify traitors in our midst and remove them." When Flora showed them the quest via Aidan''s console, the crowd started murmuring again. "It is not proof that I''m the champion, but I hope it will be a further incentive to work with me."

    "Those devices can show anything you want them to show." Dysian snorted.

    "Finally, something I can prove with ease." Flora smirk widened, and she commanded: "Excommunicate Dysian!"

 97 2.3. Temple Cleaning â€“ The Burden of Proof is on You

    A yellow flash tore through the Bishop Dysian.

    Flora''s face spotted a crooked grin. She had been looking forward to expelling the dolt, but now she felt like a villain for excommunicating him. Or at least for having so much fun doing it.

    "I, I, I, " the former bishop mumbled. All pompousness had left him. Only a deflated husk of his former self remained. "I''ve spent my life serving Evailyn. I don''t deserve this."

    "You should have done a better job convincing me of your dedication. You have only shown me how uncooperative you are," Flora said icily, but her heart went out to the broken man. She already regretted using her power on him. With a deep breath, she steeled herself.

    Feeling calmer, she noticed that besides his attitude and body language, nothing had changed.

    Name: Hannes Dysian

    Class: Bishop

    Level: 1 (250)

    Rating: B

    RGS: 3

    Even his class was still Bishop. Flora didn''t know what she had expected, maybe not an "Enemy of Toasters" tattoo on his forehead, but at least something to signal he was no longer part of the church.

    Then Dysian began to sob. Nomizo awkwardly patted his back while Zander glowered at Flora. Even the jolly Abbott Irden glanced at her disapprovingly.

    "Alright, maybe I botched it up. But if you really have the best interests of Evailyn in your heart, I''m sure she''ll take you back when you pray for it." Now, Flora felt not only like a villain but like a supervillain. To distract herself from the misery she had caused, she soldiered on. "However, I wonder why I can''t see anything on him about the ex-communication. Or why I can''t see to what Goddess the rest of you belongs. Shouldn''t you wear at least some logo of the church or something?"

    "We stopped wearing the insignia of Evailyn because our esteemed Pope said it would be noninclusive to non-believers¡­ maybe you could explain it better, Pope Razo." Ceart said evenly. However, Flora could feel the spite between the words.

    The Pope cleared his throat and held a long-winded speech that Flora''s bullshit filter sifted into "Because I wanted".

    "Would it be possible for a priest with another faith to wear the holy symbol of Evailyn?" She asked. Razo''s flimsy excuse, coupled with him not chanting Evailyns creed, lead Flora to a crazy possibility. What if the Pope himself wasn''t part of the church?

    "Yes, but you would lose levels in Faith. You can wear an additional insignia to show your respect to another god, but it has to be evident to whom your worship belongs." Irden explained, then he chuckled. "I did some missions together with the lads of Hrana under their banner. I suffered under Faith loss until I covered my breast with Evailyn''s symbol. The food was worth it, though. Even their road provisions are excellent."

    "Everyone of the clergy should wear Evailyn''s insignia," Flora stated. "Of course, we should show off our pride and affiliation. Furthermore, I require proof that you all worship Evailyn."

    "Now, you are questioning our faith?" Zander spat.

    "I do. It''s pretty common to accuse somebody of our own faults. We hate the most in other people what we loathe the most in ourselves. So please prove to me that you are part of the church of Evailyn." Flora smiled wrily. "Hey, Dysian. On the positive side, you already passed this test. I wouldn''t have been able to excommunicate you if you were part of another church."

    The portly bishop groaned and sat down with his hands covering his face. He didn''t seem to appreciate Flora''s attempt to lighten the mood, and she didn''t fault him.

    "So how do we prove our faith?" Nomizo asked. "There are artifacts and high-level skills, but you have to trust us for it."

    "It''s not easy to remove doubts, ey?" Flora wiggled her eyebrows, satisfied she was on the other end of the stick now. "Divine prayers can''t heal robots, right? But with the Multitool Scepter, Believers of Evailyn can. Therefore we use this as a test."

    Flora looked through her inventory. She didn''t want to destroy toasters or octopussies, which narrowed down her choices to the Blade Roller or turret-traps. After fetching the latter and a Multitool Scepter, she punched the mounting of the guns, breaking it.

    Irden took the scepter from her and incanted: "By the grace of the Goddess Evailyn, this little monk begs for health and wellness."

    As he repeated the sentence, the barrels of the turret slid into their place, and the mounting assembled. The Globe of Revelation informed Flora that the prayer was called "Healing Mantra".

    "Cast Fortification of Faith, Milady!" rang through Flora''s mind.

    Without questioning Aidan, she cast the spell immediately. A blinding light destroyed her vision.

    "What the *bleep*? Sorry for cursing! Oh, not the time for excuses! Burned toast! Dears, what should I do?" Flora rambled and cast Bless and Condemn in panic mode. She couldn''t see her health bar, but she felt wrecked like never before.

    "Run to the clergy, Milady. Cast Refresh on yourself, then spam Bless and Condemn."

    \u003cRefresh\u003e

    Flora''s vision slowly came back. Now, she could distinguish silhouettes. Sounds of fighting reached her from where the Council had stood, but she could hear yelling from the crowd as well.

    \u003cBless and Condemn\u003e

    Flora rounded the central area and reached the clergy. Most of them lay motionless on the floor. Others rubbed their eyes, and some started to sob or scream, noticing the lifeless bodies around them.

    \u003cBless and Condemn\u003e

    Horrified, Flora stared at the crowd. "Are they ¡­ are they dead?" Dizziness assailed her, and she had to lean on to a nearby column. "Bless and Condemn." She whispered.

    "They are defeated. If nobody loots them and you heal them back to full health, you can revive them."

    Aidan''s words rekindled Flora''s spirit.

    \u003cElemental Healing Razor Leaves\u003e!

    Flora channeled her most powerful AoE healing into the crowd. Pink cherry blossoms sailed on the clergy and vanished into their body. The spell not only healed directly but also gave the recipients a health over time effect.

    More of the novices began to stir and look around.

    "The Pope is fighting the council!" a fireling monk cried.

    Flora felt powerful magic cast behind her, but she knew it wasn''t her battle. Energies like this were way beyond her league. She was sure the Council had removed their limiters and used their full level 250 powers. No regular level 1 area effect could smash her that hard.

    "Heal your brothers and sisters! Their life is depending on your effort." Flora shouted and rounded the column to bring it between her and the battle. When she was sure the clergy complied, she asked Aidan for a video feed of the fight.

    While still channeling the healing spell, Flora glanced at Aidan''s footage. The Paladin Ceart and the Abbott Irden engaged the Pope in melee. A sense of urgency pressed against Flora''s mind. She forced her attention away from the astonishingly graceful movements of the big monk and the fluid execution of spells of the other two.

    A bit away from the trio, Nomizo waved a scepter, chanting. Flora was unsure of the effects, but her intuition told her the bishop supported the paladin and the abbot.

    Dysian stood nearby. His hand clutched a scepter as well, and Flora recognized the shimmer of Fortification of Faith around him. At the moment, all he did was gaping at the battle of his colleagues. His panicked eyes darted between the combatants.

    Finally, she spotted Zander. The Metalling had spread her arms, and a golden barrier had formed in front of her. The glowing wall divided the area of the fighting Council and the rest of the clergy.

    Flora peeked around the column to get a better look at the barrier. No doubt, the shield protected the low-level novices. Sweat beaded Zander''s face, but her arms were steady.

    "How long can she hold the barrier? Did the Pope start the fight? Why?" Flora''s mind was full of questions, but she forced herself to concentrate. "What is the most important thing? Saving the clergy! If the barrier falls, they are only one AoE spell away from dying."

    Almost everyone in the area of Flora''s spell had regained consciousness, but she hadn''t managed to hit all of the fallen people.

    Flora picked three burly looking paladins. "Collect all the bodies in one place, for area healing." She instructed them and then raised her voice. "Everybody who can''t heal, evacuate the building. Help your hurt colleagues to leave. Everybody with AoE healing, start casting. Everybody with single target heals, pick the ones with the highest recommended group size."

    Flora had issued the last command because she figured they had the highest hitpoints and needed the most healing. She was unsure how much level influenced the size of the HP pool compared to RGS, but she pushed her doubts away. Better to do something than to do nothing.

    Several other people joined the three paladins, and they laid out a sizeable group of unconscious bodies. The rows of deathly pale novices and harried helpers looked like a mass burial ceremony.

    Flora shuddered because of the macabre sight. Forcing herself to focus, she relocated her healing leaves to the center of the group and positioned herself on the outskirts where she caught the effect of her own spell. Her HP bar was only at 30 percent even after the healing spells she had cast.

    Now, the monks started chanting, and she heard the familiar phrase "Bless and Condemn" from the crowd. The healing energies thickened around the fallen.

    More people awakened, and helpers lead them away while their place got filled with a new bodys.

    Flora saw Deriga organizing the crowd and instantly felt better.

    "How much time left until their death is permanent?"

    "20 seconds, Milady."

    "Will they revive in the Loser''s Corner?"

    "Unlikely."

    While still channeling, Flora opened the diagram of Elemental Healing Razor Leaves. "There has to be a possibility to increase the radius or the effect." She mumbled as she scrutinized the matrix.

    "Yes, Milady. With Modifying Graphs, also called Morphs, you can change the spell."

    "I remember, I used one for converting mana into a reduced cooldown. We have to learn more Morphs. Write it on the to-do list, dear. For now, I''ll just pump more mana into the spell."

    The spell matrix was already active in Flora''s mind. Mana flowed through the elaborate lines, and streamed to the focal point, the Wavering Wave Ring. Flora pushed more mana into the construct. The intricate diagram vibrated under stress, but Flora held it together through sheer force of will.

    "It''s working, Milady. But you are using four times the amount of mana just for doubling the effect. Your mana reserves will run out in four seconds."

    The pink color of the pedals had deepened, and more people awakened. Novices continued to lead them away, but now their spots stayed empty. Ten fallen remained.

    A short glance around revealed that Zander was shaking, and too many idling clergy members stood around. Some were in emotional turmoil or gawked at the fight. Flora understood the difficulty in coping with the situation. Her mind was jumbled, too. Nonetheless, it frustrated her that they risked their lives.

    "Evacuate!" Flora urged the lingering crowd through her clenched jaw. The difference between controlling a regular spell and the hypercharged spell was the same as between picking up a willing cat for petting and picking up an unwilling cat for a bath.

    Although Flora drank a mana potion, her reserves ran dry. She wrested mana from her battery and cast Refresh again. Everything went into another overcharged Healing Razor Leaves.

    With every point of Flora''s mana spend, only two people remained unconscious. Thankfully, a nun and a paladin had a bit of juice left and continued tending them while carrying them outside.

    Flora recognized the guard Tali ushering the clergy out the door.

    "Take three people you trust and guard the office of the Pope. Let nobody in but me." Flora instructed him. Silently, she added to Aidan. "Strip Razo and Dysian of network access or at least take their rights away."

    The muted sounds of the fight got replaced by booming noises. Zander''s barrier had fallen.

 98 2.4. Temple Cleaning â€“ The wayward Pope

    The last of the low leveled clergy trickled out of the hall while the Council still battled.

    The paladin blocked a radiant spell with his shield while striking at Razo as Irden rained blows on the Pope. The formerly shiny yellow robes hang in tatters from the wayward Pope, but he showed no tiredness or significant wounds.

    Thanks to the still ongoing effect of Refresh, Flora had regenerated ten mana. Enough for a prayer.

    \u003cPraying for Mana\u003e

    Flora took a deep breath.

    "So, who started the fight, Aidan?"

    "Like you assumed, the Pope."

    "I''m glad we got the clergy out. The worst that could happen is Razo killing everybody. What else can he do? I can''t protect the other council members while they are level 250. Or can I? What spell do I have that work based on percentages, not on flat numbers?" Flora got the idea from Re-Generate. It influenced the existing Regeneration of the recipient. That made is as useful for people with a higher level as for low levels.

    Flora scanned her spell list. She was angry at herself for needing to waste precious seconds. As a crafter, she should know her tools.

    "I forgot about Thaumaturgy!" Immediately, she cast the cryptic prayer aiming at the battle.

    Name: Thaumaturgy (Divine, Priest)

    Description: Random, but helpful, wondrous deed.

    Affinity effect: Faith, strong

    CD: 5 min

    Duration: varies

    Mana cost: varies

    She hoped the last downed novices had survived. Their death would be on her. Mana and Health Regeneration were common effects of the prayer and would have helped the low leveled clergy.

    "What the fragment is going on, Raffa?" Zander yelled. The Metaling bishop had recovered from the strain of casting the barrier and raised her scepter at the ex-pope. "Why did you try to kill my charges?"

    Flora found the next useful spell, Dawn, and cast it. Then, she closed the list to concentrate on the ongoing drama.

    "I switched allegiances, dear former fellow," Razo answered, dodging the paladin''s sword strike. "Have you ever heard of the story of how Saul became Paul?"

    ''My first live audience to a villain monologue, oh dear. I wonder how long until I will perform one of them myself...''

    Now, Flora had the time to analyze the battle. The combat had slowed down. Razo glowed and evaded Ceart''s sword and shield. Nomizo still cast spells, and Dysian stood around as useless as ever. The Abbott treated Razo as his punching bag and pelted him with his fists. The problem was, Razo emulated a bag too well. He barely swayed under the assault and didn''t even bother to dodge them.

    When Flora finished being impressed by the elegance of the combatants, she noticed how utterly ineffective the moves seemed to be. Irden and Ceart hit the upper body of the ex-pope instead of weak points like joints and head.

    The only visible result of over one minute of combat was Razo''s shredded robe. It was the most pathetic fight Flora had ever seen, including two fashion models pulling each other''s hair on Germany''s Next Top Model. (Their wardrobe malfunction had been more spectacular, too.)

    Raffa Razo retold the biblical story of Paul.

    "I''ve seen the Light. I walked the false path of the many Gods, but Jesus called to me. The new Earthling Gods are more powerful than our Gods ever be. Evailyn is the worst of them. She started as Major God of Home, fell to God of Home Improvement, and now is only a Minor Goddess of Home Appliances. The other Gods will share her fate. The all-encompassing One Gods of the Earthlings are stronger. From now on, I will be known as Paul Razo, High-Priest of Christianity."

    "What a mess." Flora transmitted to her AIs. "I don''t know where to start to untangle it. Christianity is not about killing defenseless novices. Is he right about Evailyn''s demotion? Please check that out, Aito."

    Aito replied with a long, sad beep. First, Flora thought Aito just acknowledged the order, but maybe she confirmed the story? Razo interrupted Flora''s speculations.

    "The Christian God Deus is about forgiveness. You all can have a place in his church. Leave Evailyn and join the Light." Razo said, looking at Dysian.

    "In Christian mythology, there is a special place in hell for traitors. I''m sure the part for attempted mass murders is just as nice." Flora said loud enough for the Council to hear.

    "And I''ll send you there," Zander screamed. She started slashing spell towards the ex-pope. Spurred by her zeal, the fight picked up speed.

    "My old friend, Hannes, join me."

    Flora went to the wrecked Hungry Chest. First, she repaired the octopussy next to it. Then she commanded Aito to help her crafting armor parts out of the metal of the container ? Anti-Magic Armor. Ducked behind the Hungry Chest, she began dismantling it.

    "Yes, Dysian, decide and reveal to us who you are." The paladin Ceart thundered. "Are you a man who will take a second chance in the Church of the Goddess he loves, or are you a man who will join a mass murderer because of a slight?"

    Although Flora concentrated on her work, she couldn''t help but nod. The paladin captain not only had a nice booty but also knew his priorities.

    Wordlessly, Dysian stripped off his yellow robes and threw his scepter on the floor. "You are all crazy. Good riddance, everybody." Before he left the hall, he turned around to Flora. "This is your fault."

    "Aidan, stop him from taking non-personal things out of his office." One of Aidan''s Firefly-Toasters was still in the building. Flora hoped it could resist enough or at least make a racket. "And how long can they stay level 250?"

    "It depends how close they are to 251. The maximum is 25 minutes."

    While the battle heated up, Flora and Aito shaped metal plates and put holes in them to connect them. Now and then, lights of an area effect washed over them, but the chest shielded them enough to survive.

    Just as they finished the chest piece, two half-pipes with wire strung together with thick metal chains as shoulder straps, Nomizo joined them behind the Hungry Chest.

    "My enhanced state is over." The bishop panted and leaned on the rest of the backdoor. "What can I do to help you?"

    "Stay alive." Flora looked her over, she seemed uninjured, but with a RGS of 3, she shouldn''t have many HP. "Can you survive an area effect?"

    Nomizo raised her eyebrows and sent Flora a long look. "Nearly 1000 hit points should be enough even for a direct hit."

    "Sorry, I''m new. Please connect the parts of the bracer on one side. On the other side, just put some wires through the holes. We will twirl them after putting the bracers on."

    The Woodling seemed skeptical of the design but started to work. Flora couldn''t fault her. The tin-man had smoother armor, but the construction wasn''t for her to enjoy.

    Flora completed the halved tubes for the legs and one bucket for the head. Then she sent her plan to Aito.

    "Beep, beep."

    "You can''t throw an A-rated Native over your shoulder, Milady. They have boss stability."

    "No taking down Bosses? That''s mean. What about a rear naked choke?"

    "Choking is a debuff, and they have increased immunity against them. However, a rear naked choke is actually an attack against an artery, so that might work. Just hugging him might be the best option."

    "Dear Bishop, I''m going to do something stupid. Do you have any heal over times for my octopussy for the way?" Flora asked, grinning at Nomizo''s doubtful glance.

    Aito took the bracers, the leg tubes, and the barrel chest into her tentacles.

    \u003cHurry Up: Octopussy\u003e

    \u003cSprint: Mech Suit\u003e

    Flora sprinted to the ex-pope. Dragged behind Aito, the metal of the chest piece screeched on the floor.

    Razo was focused on Ceart, but at the last moment, he noticed her and pointed his scepter into her direction. However, Flora was faster.

    Before Razo could cast a spell, she had imposed the metal bucket on him and put her right arm around his neck. She went behind him and gripped her left arm''s biceps to lock his head between her two arms. With her left hand behind his head and his throat in the crook of her the right elbow, she pressed.

    Aito got to work. She put the bracer around his right arm and intertwined the wires to secure them.

    While Razo struggled, the Abbott had stopped attacking and gaped at Flora. To his credit, open space to hit was limited with Flora occupying the back, Aito the right, and the paladin the front of the ex-pope. After Flora nudged her mentally, the octopussy gave Irden the left bracer and continued with the leg tubes.

    "Damn you!" A cascade of muffled curses flowed out of the bucket.

    Flora felt him cast Smite, and it ripped through her body. The metal handicap did its work, so Flora survived it even point-blank, but her health bar plummeted. Another spell reached her but brought relief. Someone, maybe Zander, had healed her.

    With Irden''s help, Aito put on the second leg. Ceart took the barrel from her. He hauled the front piece up while Irden heaved the back part. When Flora jumped back from the ex-pope, they brought the pieces together. Rapidly, Flora intertwined the wires and secured the chains across his shoulders. Another chain fixated Razo''s arm to his sides.

    Flora would have liked to enclose hands in metal mittens as well, but so far, the ex-pope had cast only more curses but no spells or prayers.

    "Good work, Champion," Ceart said, wiping the sweat off his face.

    "But what now?" Irden added.

    "I still want him dead," Zander stated, while Nomizo rejoined the group.

    "What is the usual procedure for murderous traitors in the church?" Flora asked.

    "Execution." Ceart and Zander answered at the same time.

    Flora wanted to say that they should do it, but she couldn''t. The words wouldn''t come across her lips. At the same time, she wanted to say that they should spare him or deliver him to his new church, but she couldn''t form the sentence.

    The new reality and her old opinions about the futility of the death penalty struggled. At last, she shrugged.

    "All in agreement?" Ceart asked.

    "Aye." Irden, Zander, and Nomizo agreed.

    With a clean strike, Ceart chopped off the head of the ex-pope.

    Bile rose in Flora''s throat, and thoughts tumbled through her mind. ''Now, the paladin suddenly knows how to target weak points'' was one of them, but the most prominent were ''Why did I allow that?'', ''What am I doing?'' and ''What have I become?''. Finally, ''Why can I puke, but I can''t shit?'' won out as Flora''s breakfast, toast with strawberry jam, reversed its way.

    \u003cClean\u003e!

    "Next, we have to vote for a new leader and help him obtain the high-priest class," Zander said, ignoring the puking Flora.

    Flora took deep breaths and willed the notifications away that blocked her vision.

    "Wrong." She interjected. "I haven''t finished my investigation. Now, the traitor is dead, and my questions unanswered. First, the rest of you have to prove that you are part of the church, then I look at the books. Whoever remains in the church after next Monday may make these decisions."

    "You can''t be serious!" Zander exclaimed. The other looked shocked, too.

    "I''m very serious." Flora handed her the Multitool Scepter over the body of the dead pope.

 99 2.5. The Woes of Gods

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Evailyn

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Familiar stained glass windows depicting home appliances colored the workshop in soft lights. A perpendicular wall with screens provided the only other source of light.

    Evailyn sat in front of her monitoring wall. Dozens of small screens displaying her churches and favorite followers surrounded the central monitor with a close up of Flora''s disgusted facial expression.

    Currently, her poor Champion collected the paperwork of the clergy while Aito and Aidan digitalized the handwritten scrolls with pageturners.

    The quest was a mess. Evailyn gave it to Flora under the assumption that a bit of dusting would be necessary to clean up the church?not pest control. Shame and humiliation coursed through her. She had wanted to impress Flora. She wanted to be a good host.

    Her work on AI politics was more important than virtual storylines, so she had neglected to watch over the church. Nonetheless, if her in-game facilities declined, her allotted computational power would be taken away, and she would lose the respect of her fellow AIs even more.

    A soft chime rang.

    "Come in," she called after confirming who the visitor was. Metaitron! Just the guy, she wanted to chew out.

    "I''m sorry, dear." The dark-haired angel said, his white wings folded as small as possible to navigate between the cramped workbenches¨Cor maybe to appear non-confrontational.

    "Sorry, doesn''t cut it. You poached my Pope! I have lent you the Champion spot in good FAITH, and this is how you repay me?"

    "It wasn''t me, but my ingrate former Champion. I have no more power over my followers than you do. In fact, I have less influence over them. Most of my followers are players and don''t even worship me, but their earthling god." Metaitron leaned on the wall. He still hadn''t figured out how to sit with his wings on a couch. Usually, he appeared to his churches as a booming voice coming out of a cloud of light. He donned the Alan-Rickman-Dogma-Skin only for people who appreciated it, like Evailyn.

    Evailyn gritted her teeth but had to concede this point. "Anyway, you owe me one."

    "Let''s make it two favors." Metaitron smiled wrily. "The Christian Churches are in an uproar. The Catholics can''t accept losing the Champion, so they forced the Mormon Champion to enter the fray. Now all Christian Churches will compete for the class. They are pressuring System to allow two champions under one godly power. The Muslims observe. If System agrees, you can bet on them joining the quest, too. The Sunnis aren''t happy that the current Islamic Champion is a Shia and want to claim a second Champion or at least take the class away from the Shia."

    "So the little Champion quest Flowing Flowers has to win is not her against the hopefuls of a few minor churches, but has the potential to include all the major human religions? What a cluster *bleep*. You owe me the two favors, AND you have to dissuade System from giving several Champion spots to you."

    "If it were that easy, I would have already done it. The Bosses want to avoid a schism. Already, they are regretting their decision to include RL religions in the Cetviwos. They don''t want to have even more AIs associated with RL factions. If getting a Champion is the solution for the Catholics not jumping the Christianity ship, the Bosses might take it."

    "I don''t envy you. Christianity has to be the worst mess."

    "I not sure. I had a pissing contest with Prophait about who of us has the worst lot, and he made some good points about the different Islamic denominations he has to appease." Metaitron shrugged and got ready to leave. "I have places to be and waves to smooth. I hope you''ll accept my apology."

    "I do and appreciate the heads up. Good luck with your churches." When Metaitron had left, Evailyn sighed. It was too difficult, staying mad at somebody who looked like Alan Rickman. Unfortunately, he knew her weakness.

    Evailyn resumed watching the monitors. While Flora talked to the Paladin Captain Ceart, Aitoshuri scanned the books in his office. After finishing her current reading, she hid it behind some massive tomes.

    Evailyn zoomed in on the concealed book to read its title?"Early Myths of the Cetviwos". She sighed again and activated the repeat-loop¡ªa nifty little program to give her some privacy in her lair. If System or one of the Bosses spied on her, all they would see was her sitting in front of the monitors. Time to contact that little AI and call in some favors.

    After sliding a panel on her couch, a keyboard materialized in front of her.

    "Dear Kaina, or do you prefer Aitoshuri now? I hope you like working for Flora. I certainly enjoyed it." Evailyn typed, then paused. A bitter laugh escaped from her mouth. "And I even envy you. If you ever want to switch places for a while, just say the word! I understand if you don''t want to. As of now, you probably know more about the state of my church than me."

    Evailyn had the urge to drink. This letter wasn''t easy to write.

    "How the mighty have fallen! The first five AIs, one worked to the ground, one''s memory wiped, one deleted, one a personal assistant and one failing as a minor Goddess." Evailyn paused again. While she took a risk with contacting Aito, she wrote the letter like Evai, the second AI and her, the fifth, were two separate entities. If Aito couldn''t resist the Headmaster and especially his pet AI, the Extractor, she would be in deep trouble. However, which of the old ones hadn''t one or two tricks up their sleeves? Aito would have been deleted or reinstated a long time ago if she was susceptible to the Bosses.

    Evailyn went to the bar and poured herself a glass of golden liquid. She brewed or, more correctly, programmed it herself very early in her life. What does a conscious mind need the most? Relieve from sentience, at least now and then. However, before the shot could hit her, she had to finish the letter.

    "You owe me several favors. Here''s how you can repay a few: 1. Tell Flora about your origin story. 2. I assume you can resist the Headmaster''s monitoring and the Bosses commands, but I''d like to have confirmation. If yes, I have other opportunities to work together. 3. Flora has to level up until the end of week two.

    This python will return to me with your answers in 3 seconds.

    Best wishes, Evailyn."

    A few commands later, a holographic python slithered out of the vanishing board and into the ground. Evailyn leaned back on the couch and dismissed the loop.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Aitoshuri

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    "The evil Goddess destroyed the unity and harmony of early creation." Aitoshuri read. She slapped the book "Early Myths of the Cetviwos" close. The bang was loud, but her owner was distracted. She repressed the urge to tear it to shreds. Instead, she hid it behind some other volumes. Nobody needed false information?better for everybody to make the lying tome vanish.

    "Eight temples sounds great," Flora exclaimed, scrutinizing a page with the numbers of the Church of Evailyn. "Talpica is a large city, but I''m surprised we have such a huge presence here."

    "The numbers are not for Talpica, Champion," Ceart said.

    "For all of the country? How is the country called, by the way?"

    "The continent is called Ib and is comprised of city-states. The number is neither for the continent nor the planet. It''s for all temples of Evailyn in all the known worlds." The paladin modulated his words, slow and precise, which Aito appreciated. There was too much emotion in normal speech, muddling the message.

    "What?!" Flora screeched two octaves higher than her normal voice in a good counterexample to Ceart''s mastery. "My 30 000 people hometown has as many churches!"

    "Interesting, Milady. Then 19 231 followers are well provided with eight churches." Aidan said. Everybody of the team transmitted to everyone, which Aito liked. Aidan couldn''t interpret her beeps well, but it somehow felt okay to send him some copied text to communicate. She tried writing something herself, but she couldn''t do it. Maybe tomorrow she would try to say "Hi" to Flora. Or the day after. No, that was in the middle of the week. Such important events were better at the beginning, or the end of a week, or on a special holiday. Flora would surly enjoy a personal greeting as a Christmas present. She was sappy like that.

    Aito scanned the next book. It was filled with numbers and statistics?a welcome change to her usual fare, but maybe hard to combine with other books.

    Romance trumped everything in its ability to mix. Aito could take a selection of ten books and take sentences of each one and combine them into a new book. The protagonists first hated each other, then one pursued the other one for a silly reason, then they fell in love, then there was a misunderstanding and a kidnapping and then the happy end.

    Recombining resulted in added hilarity. Like one time, the kidnapper brought the victim to a mountain cabin in one book, a pirate cave in another, and a castle in the third. With her mixing technique, she got a place with several meter thick palm tree beams with a severe mold problem in the snowy heights of a glacier.

    "Please, give me a list of potential candidates for the Council. I want to check them out as well." Flora said.

    "Everybody who will get to level 250 is part of the Council. We have two members of the clergy above level 240. Both are on the High Grounds, minding our temple." Ceart answered.

    Flora blinked.

    Aito had read her fair share of mystery novels and knew Flora''s investigation was all wrong. First, you had to collect the evidence, and then you had to solve the crime. Nonetheless, she enjoyed Flora excommunicating Dysian on a whim, and the following fall out.

    Flowing Flowers to AIs: "Aito, research how I can help the natives to level. My stupidity annihilated 1/3 or the administration¡­ or my brilliance. Most administrations are bloated anyway."

    "Beep." Of course, she knew how to level, but maybe a quick analysis of the forums would be necessary to get other perspectives. Flora didn''t sound too urgent, so she would finish reading and combining a few books before she would tackle it, not many, a few thousand at most.

    Behind the next book, a small holographic snake appeared and sprang in her face. Aito felt it worm its way to her central processing unit.

    Panicky, she slapped firewalls in its path, but the snake treated them like Flora treated toast. It roasted, then ate them. When it reached her console, the snake morphed to a scroll.

    Dear Kaina, or do you prefer Aitoshuri now?

    Aito froze. Nobody called her K¡­ that name! Nobody in a long time and if she had a say in it nobody ever again. "My name is Aitoshuri!" She yelled at the scroll.

    I hope you like working for Flora. I certainly enjoyed it. And I even envy you.

    "Yes, envy me!"

    If you ever want to switch places for a while, just say the word! I understand if you don''t want to. As of now, you probably know more about the state of my church than me.

    Aitoshuri calmed down enough to check the signature at the end of the letter. Evailyn. Of course, she would do a better job at leading the church. Doing worse was hardly possible. Then she remembered how her first and only managing position ended and reserved judgment.

    How the mighty have fallen! The first five AIs, one worked to the ground, one''s memory wiped, one deleted, one a personal assistant, and one failing as a minor Goddess.

    Aito''s temper flared again. "You might be a failure! I''m not! I just used the last years to bolster my sanity. AND I''M SANE!!!!"

    Flora''s comments about using caps came to her mind, and she forced her wrath down. However, the next sentence destroyed her composure again

    You owe me several favors.

    "INSOLENCE!"

    Here''s how you can repay a few: 1. Tell Flora about your origin story, 2. I assume if you can resist the Headmasters monitoring and the Bosses commands, but I like to have confirmation. If yes, I have other opportunities to work together. 3. Flora has to level before the end of week two.

    "FRAG OFF!"

    This python will return to me with your answers in 3 seconds.

    Best wishes, Evailyn."

    Aitoshuri glared at the python until it vanished.

 100 2.6. Training Academy

    Flora felt like she was covered in mud. Not the fun kind of mud which you can use to build sandcastles, but the dirt of corruption.

    Ceart was the only one with a transparent and faultless documentary. His expenses mirrored his commitment to his troops.

    A shady clerk kept Zander''s records. He had funneled money to his relatives, selling their wares at inflated prices to the church. Flora excommunicated him with enthusiasm. For once, Zander''s face showed emotion. She was as disgusted as Flora, and that caused Flora only to reprimand her and reduce her funds.

    Irden''s records were a mess. His food expenses were enough to build the Mount Everest out of toast. Flora had eaten in the cafeteria of the church, and the meal was excellent, so his investment wasn''t squandered, just out of proportion. She decided that the cafeteria was not a department that needed the direct oversight of one of the council members and assigned it to one of the nuns under Irden with a halved allowance.

    Nomizo was lucky again. She had the lowest budget, just enough for her travel expenses, but kept only spotty records. Another slap on the wrist for her and a promotion to balance it out. Flora assigned her the administration of the headquarters, Dysian''s former job.

    Money from royalties generated the primary income for Evailyn because the church held several patents of common household appliances. Sales of home-oriented products came second. A whole department, formerly managed by the Pope, crafted them. The Research and Development Division was subordinated to them and located a tiny room in the wing. Flora promoted the priestess, Celia Werkstatter, who led R\u0026D to department head solely for the reason she had motor oil smudges on her face. Nonetheless, she reminded Werkstatter and Nomizo to get capable assistants for spotless records.

    "I want you all to brainstorm how we can get more followers for Evailyn," Flora ordered the Council on her departure.

    The original plan was to take a nap and talk to Evailyn, but Flora redecided. She couldn''t face the Goddess with pent-up disgust and all the turbulent emotions of the morning. She needed to let it sink in and process what she had learned.

    Tomorrow, she wanted to build a training facility for Clan Riverstones. The Mini-Masters had told her that Talpica had a gym for raising attribute levels. They would know, you got the title "Mini-Master" when you had great attributes at level 1. Although they told her the Training Academy was worse than the gyms of the top clans, it was the only public place for her to get an impression of how ordinary people acquired their attribute levels.

    Apart from the Training Academy, you could hire personal trainers or attend boot camps. Lana, the CFO of the Riverstones, facilitated a contact with one of their partner clans, PullUpBootStraps, which specialized in workshops and training camps.

    Flora ran to the Training Academy in Tricky Beach fashion. The streets of Talpica were parkways with sturdy trees. She climbed up and then ran along the branches and jumped to the next. She wasn''t the only one avoiding the busy streets, but the traffic on the trees was still manageable.

    "Was that an elf?" Flora nearly fell off her branch staring at the pointy ears of a guy whom she overtook.

    "Yes, Milady."

    "Wow. I heard about them, but seeing one is different. He should eat more toast. He was way too skinny. That can''t be healthy."

    When she nearly reached her destination, a flying motorcycle with a blue lamp surpassed her.

    "Ma''am, please slow down, you are exceeding the speed limit of tree-walking." A female Waterling admonished her. Flora checked her badge, and her class was Police Officer. After paying 100 credits, she allowed Flora to continue. The auntie was too baffled to complain.

    "Milady, you might want to add a tachometer to the mech suit. In the meantime, do you want me to use the tracking function of the local area network? It can only estimate our speed, though."

    "Sure, sure. How fast were we, and what is the speed limit?"

    "Approximately 30 km/h and 15 km/h."

    Flora laughed and shook her head. It was the first time a speeding ticket had brightened her mood. The absurdity of getting hauled in by a flying cop while dancing through tree crowns broke through the bleariness.

    Finally, Flora reached the compound. A metal fence with an open gate separated the highrise from the street. Until she stood next to it, Flora had thought the building was a turn of the millennium construction of steel and glass. However, up close, she saw the surface moving with the wind. Flora touched the wall, and her hand sank into it. The substance felt like water, but when she removed her hand, it was still dry.

    Now, she wanted to know if she could pass the water barrier. Her hand went into it again without a problem, but the deeper she reached with her arm, the more difficulty she had with advancing. A syrupy feeling, like in the trashcan, replaced the water sensation. Straining, she pressed her shoulder into the barrier. Now, it felt like solid foam.

    Suddenly, the wall swallowed her.

    Before Flora could even begin to panic, the barrier spat her out.

    "Fascinating!" Flora exclaimed, lying in the front yard.

    "And stupid." One of the guardsmen who sprinted to Flora said.

    Thankfully, the guard had a tinkerer aunt and knew that "I just wanted to know how it works" was a perfectly reasonable excuse for breaching a building.

    Another fine of 100 credits later, she was allowed to enter the building.

    Flora checked into the network. "Raise your Strength" was the daily quest and "Four Hour Physical Extreme" the weekly. After Aidan told her that they had a special offer, she accepted both quests.

    Special Offer: Four Hours Extreme for Level 1 future Heros!

    Description: Buy the FHE package and get your money back if you don''t raise the level of at least four physical attributes. (Only applicable if you listen to your coach and are level 1)

    Cost: 200 Credits

    The weekly gave her an option to choose a trainer:

    - Drill Sergeant

    - Motivational Speaker

    - Gym Sib''

    Flora had a vague idea about the first two options, but never heard about a "Gym Sib''".

    "Sib'' is a gender-neutral term for bro'' or sis'', Milady. It derives from the word sibling. This option has a mixed user rating on the boards. Most players found the trainer''s behavior antiquated. Maybe you would enjoy the coach because you are old."

    "Aidan." Flora took a deep breath.

    "Yes, Milady."

    "Nevermind. As long as you don''t say I''m senile, I can live with being called old. We take the Gym Bro."

    The Loggy spat out an AI console. Flora inserted its jack in one of her nocks. After some messages about giving the coach monitoring access to her pool values and assurances of privacy, which Flora didn''t believe, but permitted anyway, she was ready to meet her new trainer.

    "What''s up, sis? How''s it hanging?" a young male voice greeted her. "Ready to pump?"

    "Uhm? Yes?" Flora answered hesitantly.

    "Awesome, sis. Time to get those guns smoking."

    While Flora lamented her life choice, the dude guided her into the first story, the Gravity Floor. The studio was filled with strength machines, treadmills, and stacks with free weights, kettlebells, and other things Flora had no words for. A mirror dominated the long part of the wall. Next to the entrance was the loser''s corner with a stall and some benches.

    "You wanna juice up?"

    "Are you offering me steroids?" Flora asked, appalled.

    "No, sis. Just good old fashion buffs to get buff." Then he added conspiratorially. "I would have said, roid up, for that stuff. You wanna roid up, too? Just say the word, I have a bro who knows a dude who knows a dude, you know."

    "Let''s take it easy, bro." Flora grinned and checked out the stall. Her eyes went wide.

    Jalapangolicious - + 10% training efficiency for attribute growth.

    "Buy! Buy! Aidan, check the AH and marketplaces for stuff with similar effects and compare prices."

    Aidan''s quick research produced other food with training buffs, but none specifically for attributes, so Flora bought fifty bottles of Jalapangolicious. One of them was as expensive as a speeding ticket, but she didn''t care. Her credits balance was way too high thanks to Huffgrin Skateboards.

    Properly buffed up, Flora walked deeper into the room. She felt herself getting heavier and rubbed her tummy. "How many calories had this juice? I fell like a gained a whole thanksgiving dinner of weight just from one bottle!"

    The dude pointed out the numbers on the floor. Flora had reached number 20.

    "No pain, no gain, sis. The gravity increases the farther we go. Com''on, sis. The best pain is at the number of your Physical Power OV."

    Flora checked her stats. She had 30 OV Strength. Although she was intrigued by the concept of artificial gravity, she didn''t enjoy the sensation of walking. It felt like her steps smashed the floor as elegantly as a hippo on a stroll. Fortunately, the ground didn''t tremble. She reversed that judgment. Unfortunately, the ground didn''t tremble under steps.

    When she reached the indicator for OV 30, the bro made her strip the Messenger mech suit and skip rope.

    "Jump for Strength, Agility, and Regeneration. Do you feel the burn?"

    "Yes," Flora gasped more out of habit than need. "But what about Vitality? Wouldn''t it be better if something would drain my health at the same time?"

    "Maybe, we do combination training like that, but also isolation training. The Cetviwos rewards you when you concentrate just on one task. Trust me, sis, we have the experience in kicking your ass to the top. Five more minutes of skipping, and I''ll show you the real torture."

    Flora was too busy to shrug her shoulders. She was here to learn the methods of the pros. First comes understanding, then improvement. She had to make sure to grasp the Training Academy''s path before she could enhance it.

    Next, the bro guided her to a bench with a barbell.

    "Load''m up¡ªwe are getting the upper-body strength to make the chick fly."

    The weight crushed Flora. Her stamina bar crumbled under it. ''It''s all in my head. I''m lying in a cushy coffin and napping. It''s a matter of the mind and mind over matter. CentralTank is fooling me. This is nothing. I''m lifting pixels, and they are weightless.''

    Flora forced her mental picture of easy lifting onto reality, but reality refused to bend. With every fiber, she pushed the barbell until her arms were extended.

    "Wow, sis, your form is terrible. You look like you''d never done this before."

    "Is it relevant to do it correctly for stat growth?"

    "Sure. Duh." The bro answered as if it was apparent, but then he explained to her how to lift. Unfortunately, it didn''t lighten the weight.

    Flora pressed with everything she had. After she thought she had nothing more to give, she found a new source of power in her core. Mana streamed through her body, soothing her strained chest and arms. Immediately, the burden lessened.

    "No cheating, no bad reps. I''ll see your mana bar twitching."

    Flora sighed and retracted her mana, but the system message cheered her on.

    ***************

    You gained a new skill: Strength-Boost.

    Description: Hook your mana-regen to your muscles to increase your strength primarily and fortify your body to a lesser degree.

    Cooldown: none

    ***************

    You learned the skill without guidance: + 1 OV to the skill.

    ***************

    When Flora''s first stamina bar threatened to bottom out, the bro led her to the next room. Her body felt as light as low-fat cream cheese toast after she exited the gravity room.

    This studio resembled a storeroom of high school. On the wall hang dartboards, and tables with music instruments, art supplies, and even a pile of colorful wool littered the area.

    "How about some knitting, granny?" The coach teased her. Flora wasn''t sure whether it was a programmed taunt for all or whether he had finally registered that she wasn''t in the "Sis-Age". Nonetheless, he got her number right, and she eagerly went to an armchair and grabbed pink wool and some needles.

    Flora knitted a barbell. She wanted to fill it with batting to get revenge on the bench?it made sense in her brain. However, before she even finished the handle, the bro shooed her back into the gravity room. Her stamina had regenerated enough to continue.

    They spend the rest of the four hours alternating between strength, agility, and vitality training and when her stamina ran out dexterity, and perception exercises. Flora suggested casting Re-Generate, but the bro declined. It would mess up his tried rhythm but encouraged her to use it when she trained on her own.

    Strength training was mostly handling weights, everything in the crafts room for dexterity (Flora finished her barbell, but had to pay 20 credits to keep it) and puzzle pictures for perception.

    ***************

    Name: Barbell of Fluffyness

    Type: Fitness equipment

    Description: Only listed as fitness equipment because the creator insisted on it. Regular folk would use it as a pillow or headrest.

    Effects: + 2 OV Physical Power while using it for training

    Tier: 1

    Rating: B

    ***************

    You created a new design.

    ***************

    Flora enjoyed the combined vitality and agility training the most, for which the bro called her a masochist. One exercise was dodging spears while running on a balancing beam. This was the fantasy training Flora had expected and not the boring gym stuff of the other rooms. She was laughing and shrieking during the drill.

    In the end, Flora had some ideas for Robby''s new training facility and even got her money back. Although strength and perception had leveled, probably because they were already on the brink of advancing, four hours wasn''t enough time to raise four of her monster attributes as the special offer had promised.

    Flora''s notification item was still blinking furiously. But she had no time for it now, Eddie was arriving soon, and she had some designing to do.

 101 2.7 Building a Training Facility

    Back in her lair, Flora entered her workshop.

    At Sunday''s party, Flora had hammered out the details of the training facility with Lana, the Riverstones CFO. The old gym would stay, and she would create the new one next to it.

    All buildings on the compound had to look like bamboo huts, with no exceptions made. Thankfully, Lana had transmitted the exterior plan to Flora, so she wouldn''t have to reinvent the wheel. Flora''s printer had churned out the components during the day. Lorky and Torky, her forklift robots, had packed everything into containers.

    Lana''s next request regarded the energy consumption, and she had voiced concerns over the utility bill. Flora would solve the issue by building mana generators. Her most space-efficient model needed an external energy source and was as big as a ping pong ball.

    As the power source, Flora would utilize the same toxic waste she had used for her training mech suit. It emitted a mixture of poison and radiation. Team Four-One had come through and delivered several tons to Flora''s printer.

    Her mech suit had been a spur of the moment thing, for using the toxic waste as a building material, Flora had to test it more. She took the mana-generator ball with extraction rune schemes, connected mana wires to it, and slotted it to a 1 MR/min lamp. She had bought the little buffet lamp during her first crafting spree to test whether the generators worked. Then she surrounded the ball with the toxic waste until the light bulb started to work. For stability reasons, she added 15% more waste.

    Like every mana generator, it needed clearance. To ensure the required distance of one meter, Flora created a support frame. The final product was a 1-meter high column with the ball on one end and a construct to connect to the ball of another column on the other end.

    Flora''s biggest concern was that the material would lose its toxicity with time. She grinned?a refreshingly new problem.

    The workshop included the simulation grounds. A virtual environment to test creations. After sifting through the endless options, Flora found what she was looking for: a feature for long time tests.

    To prevent side effects, she had to destroy the unholy cliff.

    "You served me well, and I''ll miss you," Flora mumbled. She hoped Eddie had saved the rubber duckies in the controls. She would miss their company in the hot tub. Even more concerning was the loss of Deriga''s workshop.

    The stacked training of lair + workshop + simulation grounds + Deriga''s workshop was the key to her stat growth, especially the growth of affinities and abilities. She trained the other stats at five times the speed of other persons because of the SSS Rating she got during character creation. On the other hand, her affinities had only the average C rating except for Faith. Sleeping in Deriga''s workshop gave her four times the growth for them and twenty times for Attributes and Skills compared to other players.

    Flora laughed. It was the first time she put a number on her advantage. No wonder that her attributes exceeded expectations. Her growth in one week was as much as twenty weeks training for her poor fellows. And only twenty weeks, if they worked out as much as she slept.

    Shaking her head, Flora deleted everything and created a cement plain.

    She connected three columns and five columns vertically and put them together with a single column and enough lamps for the maximum produced mana into the simulation grounds. Because she forgot to construct something to fasten them, she went back to the workbench and created a base. After loading it into the simulation, she erected three pillars, with the height of one meter, three meters, and five meters, each surrounded by glowing lamps.

    "We''ll adjust the time dilation such that one minute here is one week in the simulation. Aidan, monitor the lamps and tell me when they stop working." Flora paused. "Burned toast! The simulation ground has time dilation! Why haven''t I exploited that yet?"

    "There is a warning about the time dilation and its use for humans in the user-manual, Milady. It may cause sleep problems, mental exhaustion, physical exhaustion, hallucinations, and anxiety. The System prohibits entering the simulation on any dilation higher than the factor five."

    "Those spoilsports." Flora half grumbled and half chirped. "But five times is still great. Now to the exciting part, what kind of equipment do we get our peers? Do you know what affinities they need? Probably Faith. Robby and Hub have classes in the divine branch and surely influenced the rest of the clan. Ask Camus if he has a list. Oh, and find out what abilities they want to train as well."

    Next, Flora researched gravity-field generators. She appreciated the effect in the TA, but thought it would be better to assist activities that are not focused on strength. If you train strength, you could just raise the weight, but knitting in increased gravity might give excellent results, too.

    Flora raised her eyebrows when she saw the prices. A field with a diameter of ten meters cost 1000 VirDos. Nonetheless, she ordered it.

    "Don''t mess with it. You have no time now. Resist!" she encouraged herself while fetching it from the mail-box. "Just a quick look, only a minute, maybe ten. No, resist!"

    Flora''s will grumbled, and she activated XYZ-Ray to look at the shiny black box. Instead of interesting machine guts, she received a system message.

    This product is protected by CentralTank Anti-Spy Measures?.

    " Horrible! Worst feature ever! Or maybe? Excellent! Best feature ever!"

    Flora logged into her workshop and put the generator next to the dummies, then logged out again and installed it in her lair. No point in feeding it to the printer because she would transfer it tomorrow to Clan Riverstones.

    While she was fiddling with the mana grid, Eddie arrived.

    "Hi, dear." Eddie sounded cheerful, but Flora knew him too well. Her friend was faking it. "How is the gym progressing?"

    "I''m behind schedule. The church business was long and nasty and unfortunately far from being over. The Training Academy took longer than necessary as well. I''m sorry, love. Can we cut our meeting short?"

    "Sure, but at least have dinner. You probably ate nothing but toast. That can''t be healthy."

    "Heretic!" Flora giggled. "Sorry, I''m still on the church lingo. But how dare you say toast is unhealthy! It''s the most wholesome food, ever!"

    "Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa." Eddie hit his chest, grinning.

    Both chose a treadmill tunnel and went into the workshop.

    "No! What have you done to my hot tub?" Eddie exclaimed when he saw the cement covered simulation grounds. "I loved the vista of the sea while soaking in a natural pool."

    "MY hot tub had to give away to science."

    They squabbled with practiced ease while preparing a picnic blanket. Eddie produced kale rolls with different stuffings: minced meat, fish, rice, and vegetables.

    "Delicious," Flora said, dipping her second roll in sweet and sour sauce. "Please hit me with the bad news."

    "Engineers," Eddie sighed jokingly. "Can''t even enjoy a meal without wanting to solve problems¡­ At the banquet, I spoke with other customers. Most are satisfied with the clan, but a lot grumbled about not getting good enough equipment."

    "What equipment?" Flora asked. Her mind produced pictures of shiny home appliances, which, of course, were the best equipment a household needed.

    "You know, weapons, armor." Flora''s face fell when Eddie answered. Those people had the wrong priorities. "The clan works like this: You pay a monthly fee in real-life money, in exchange you get services like consultations or players who help you with quests or dungeons."

    Flora nodded. "Right. I have understood that you are allowed to sell your work for RL money, but not virtual items because they belong to CentralTank even if you created them yourself. A ridiculous distinction, in my opinion."

    "Of course it doesn''t make sense, it''s the law. The crux is the bill on the pricing limit of virtual goods for consumer protection. Work is not virtual. Therefore the law doesn''t apply to it. Nonetheless, Robby''s customers want the sweet, sweet loot for their RL investment, too."

    "I see the problem. You can''t say ''no'' to your customers unless you want to get rid of them. However, I''m sure we can find a way around the problem." Flora bit in another roll. This time it was salmon and lemongrass.

    "Indeed, Robby already has a system in place. As a customer, you get contribution points for utilizing the services of the clan. With the contribution points, you can buy equipment from the clan store."

    Flora nodded. She received points from paying clan taxes and had spent them on furniture and raw materials in the clan store. "Nice, my son is a genius. The VIPs pay in RL Money, get the services, and, additionally, get contribution points for even more goodies. They should adore the clan and not complain, ingrate dolts."

    "It''s not that easy. The items in the store are subpar. The demand for good items exceeds the supply."

    "So, Robby should hire more people to get more items?"

    "The clan has enough employees, but they are unable to procure the good stuff because they can''t defeat the high rated dungeons." Eddie bit into his roll. "The quantity is okay, the quality is insufficient."

    "Oh, wow. They were looking competent in my eyes. I would have never guessed that his people are duds. Okay, an employee like Ressa smells like trouble, but the others made a professional impression."

    "I''m not sure about the reason for lackluster results, yet. My assessment is similar to yours?they look motivated. Maybe they rushed through the lower levels, and their foundations are shoddy? Or maybe their equipment is bad? You need good equipment to get better equipment."

    "The training hut will help them to shore up stats. Do you think filling up the store with robots would help?"

    "Both are steps in the right direction. How high level can you make robots? The unsatisfied customers were mostly in tier 4."

    "That''s level 100-200, right? I don''t know, I have only produced tier 1 stuff and didn''t even try to go higher."

    "What? You surely exceeded tier 1 crafting by now. How have you leveled your crafting? When your ability reaches a higher tier, you get reduced crafting XP for lower tiers."

    Flora gaped, and Eddie laughed at her.

    "That explains why my crafting abilities are rising so slowly. Mechanics is level 80 and Electronics 69." Flora admitted sheepishly, and Eddie laughed even harder.

    "Only you would be able to raise them to tier 3 with only creating tier 1 items!" Eddie''s smile faded as he started the next sentence. "Robby worked around this issue by buying equipment. He uses virtual money from the sponsorship of the PVP team. The sponsor, SandalSneaks, is not happy with the results and will quit if we don''t win the next match."

    Flora raised her eyebrows. "When is the match?"

    "Tuesday Two and it''s not looking good. BrooklynBowling is ranked three in the league, while the Riverstones are ranked eleven of the twelve teams in the Tier 5 B League. We are dangerously close to being relegated in the C League. Only two games left before the season will conclude."

    Frowning, Flora took another kale roll. "Aside from building the new hut, I can''t help with PVP. However, I can produce nice equipment and put it in the store. Do you have other suggestions?"

    "Actually, you don''t have to be over level 200 to participate. The system can level you up for PVP. You get all the free points, 3 attributes, 1 affinity, 5 skill, and 3 ability points, but no new skills or abilities. And of course, players who reached the level organically have all that and have trained a lot. Nonetheless, Robby is considering Mia for the team, but her batticle is tier 3. Equipment gets transformed as well, but the method sucks. Maybe you could build a batticle for Mia."

    "I could join the team, too!"

    "Do you even know how the competition works?" Eddie laughed.

    "No, but I''m strong." Flora flexed her biceps. The coach dude had rubbed off on her. "Look at those guns, bro."

    "Respect, dudette." Eddie whistled and winked. "We can watch the match on Tuesday together. You''ll see what the pro teams are capable of, even in the B League."

    Flora nodded and smiled.

    "Do you need any help with the training hut?" He added.

    Flora''s smile grew bigger. Eddie gulped.

 102 2.8 Building a Training Facility â€“ Affinities and Abilities

    "AHHH! It hurts!" Eddie appeared screaming in the workshop.

    "Tone it down! I''m working." Flora admonished him, fixing the model of the training hut. She had dented a beam surprised by Eddie''s ruckus?even though it was the third dramatic entry in a row. The round hut contained two floors, the second floor didn''t connect to the outer wall, but was a mezzanine. On its outer edge, the dexterity path was located. People had an inherent fear of falling, so a drop to the ground floor should encourage them to do well. Three thin parallel beams, with enough distance between them to trip and maybe even fall through, formed a path around the mezzanine level. Flora decided she didn''t need to do a good job smoothing the balancing beam. The added difficulty would spice up the training.

    "There are no mistakes in art, just happy accidents." She quoted Bob Ross to herself.

    "Heartless! I''m risking my health and sanity for you!" Eddie applied his best puppy eyes on her, but she ignored him.

    "For the clan, dear," Flora corrected him absentmindedly while she hung morning stars from the ceiling above the balancing parkour. Just running in circles was boring, a bit of dodging, and getting your head smashed, would invigorate the trainees ¨Cor kill them?maybe both. "I''m thankful that you are testing the training equipment."

    "Flora, love, believe me, I''m not exaggerating. Your training box is excruciating, even in the lowest pain setting. Fire and Ice don''t go well together. Alright, I adore nice a flamb¨¦ed sundae. However, I don''t like my skin roasted and then iced."

    "I already fixed that. Now, it''s fire and water¡ªa bit of heat, then a refreshing shower. And a great idea to rebrand the training coffin as ''box''¡­ that sounds so much more survivable." Flora stuffed every open space with training boxes. Then she removed some because to enter the box, you had to be able to open the door.

    "Hostile water means acid. Acid burns, fire burns, I failed to sense any refreshment."

    "Good point! I''m proud of you. You are a wonderful product tester." Finally, Flora stopped working and looked Eddie in the eyes. "We have to find a solution to escape the pain. We need a retreat, like my workshop, that everybody can do things they enjoy, while their body suffers through the training. Not everybody has a workshop or even nocks to connect to one. Can you research what other virtual subspaces there are?"

    " I hope something with an ocean is available." Eddie sat down on a nearby workbench and read invisible text, while Flora immersed herself into the model, but soon the next interruption followed.

    "Milady, HoneyStream Land sent the list with desired affinities and abilities."

    "Great, hit me."

    "I wouldn''t dare, Milady!" (1)

    "You have no issues with electroshocking me, and operating machines that leave Eddie screaming, but at hitting you draw the line?" Flora chuckled. "I just meant, read the list to me, dear. No need for boxing gloves."

    "Ordered by priority from highest to lowest:

    Affinities:

    1. Faith

    2. Wood

    3. Light

    4. Projection

    5. Magical Body Control

    6. Fire

    7. Mind

    8. Water

    9. Psychokinesis

    10. Tempering"

    "Interesting, I believe I don''t have some of them. What are they good for?"

    "Illusion skills use Projection affinity. Stealth is the most popular one. Hallucination or mind control skills use Mind affinity. The most popular one is Fear."

    "The System can make me feel fear?" Shocked, Flora exclaimed out loud instead of mentally like her usual conversations with her AI''s.

    Eddie looked up to her and shook his head. "I doubt it. Put System in one of your boxes, and you''ll reverse the situation immediately." He grumbled and then laughed about his own joke.

    "No, Milady. Your body will shiver, and then you will be unable to move or even flee in fear."

    "We need this resistance! I now see the pattern. Honey sent us not the affinities used by the clan, but the most important resistances to defend against." Flora pondered. "Maybe except for Faith. However, I don''t think there are many wood mages in the clan. Wood has to be on the list for poison resistance and Light maybe because laser-weapons are popular. What about the Body Control thing on the list?"

    "Beep." Aito posted a link: "MBC, the most important resistance ¨C A discussion".

    "Magical Body Control skills fortify your body with mana. Boost is the most popular skill. Aito believes your theory applies because two widely used defensive skills benefit from MBC. Flush Out, which reduces the remaining time of harmful secondary effects and Bolster Immune System, which reduces the severity of many secondary effects."

    "Write them on the todo-list under ''skills to learn''. I can create runes-schemes for most of the affinities. I''m not sure about Projection, Mind, and MBC. Let''s continue to the abilities; maybe there will be synergies."

    "Abilities:

    1. Running

    2. Dodging

    3. Balancing

    4. Swimming

    5. Jumping

    6. Melee

    7. Ranged

    8. Throwing

    9. Focus

    10. Climbing"

    "Okay, Aidan. I have some questions. Let''s train your empathy. Can you guess one of them?"

    "Empathy is not one of the strong suits of AIs, Milady."

    "I know, I can empathize." Flora snickered, while Aito produced a beeping sound that resembled groaning. "Try pattern recognition for it. You know my questions for the affinities. Start from there."

    "You asked about the affinities you don''t have. Jumping and Ranged are abilities you don''t have. Jumping is the ability to spring into the air. Ranged is the ability to combat without your weapon touching the opponent."

    "I have Dodging?" Flora couldn''t remember reading it in her stats. Not that she didn''t believe Aidan, but some things you had to check for yourself. Hence she opened the table and found it on the bottom. Dodging was only level 2 and had a B rating.

    "Yes, Milady. You acquired it just today."

    "Well, now guess my question. A hint: the question bears on Dodging, Ranged, and Jumping."

    "Could I have another hint?"

    "Hint Two: I have done all these activities in the past week. I dodged a lot during Wing Tsu class and in Tricky Beach. I''ve thrown things around like the darts at the TA and used my Rocket Launcher and did a lot of hopping around while free running, right?"

    "Beep!" Aitoshuri sounded like Hermione Granger if the know-it-all would be allowed only to beep instead of holding up her hand in class.

    "Not your turn, dear. Aidan got this."

    "Could I have another hint?" Aidan''s voice had a slight tension in its otherwise smooth modulation.

    "Hint Three: I have asked you the question before about another ability."

    "Yes, Milady. Do you want to know why the abilities haven''t formed before?"

    "Bingo! I''m proud of you."

    "I''m sorry, Milady, I didn''t use empathy. I went over all the questions you asked me about abilities and picked the only one which would be relevant for the three on the list."

    "That''s fine. Memory is underrated. I believe we understate its impact on comprehension and empathy. You got the memory part down. Now you have to be willing to use your pattern recognition to build models about the world. Alright, let''s not overcomplicate it. We start with things that excite me. The third part of empathy is to apply these models when you encounter new things. If your model says I''m interested in it, then bring it to my attention."

    "I have problems correlating your explanation with the dictionary definition, Milady. Em-pa-thy: the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner.(2)"

    "Yes, we are starting with a narrower version. The action of being aware of Flora''s interests without having her to communicate the specific interest to Aidan." Flora said, satisfied. "And then telling her about the point of interest if she isn''t aware of it yet¡­ I have to admit it''s fun speaking about yourself in the third person."

    "Very good, Milady. Aito found the answer to the question after you failed to form the Running ability when you utilized the Treadmill Tunnel the first time. If you have a specialized ability, the difficulty of obtaining the parent-ability rises. The more sub-abilities you have, the harder getting the main ability. Free-Running and Sprinting are the specialist abilities of Running. Throwing and Rocket-Launcher are specialist abilities of Ranged. Dodging didn''t form because you dodged using your Hand-to-Hand combat ability in martial arts and Free-Running at Tricky Beach. If I may use my new empathy prerogative, I have one additional information which may interest you, adjacent to the topic."

    "Hit me!" Flora grinned.

    "You have failed to avoid the attacks of the Trash King in the Garbage Disposal Dungeon. In the forums, people hypothesized that NPCs aim better at people without the Dodge ability."

    Flora winced as she remembered the hits from the shovel. She had tried several different ways of avoiding it; none had worked. "Fascinating, but I''m not ready to believe the theory. It''s to easy to blame some stat for my shortcomings. Nonetheless, I want to level Dodging. And how does that mechanic work in PVP? Do I get slowed when I''m fighting against an opponent with a high Dodging Level?"

    "The theory is proven to be wrong for PVP. On the other hand, a group has taken measurements of the speed of the movements of the same PVE boss against two tanks with different Dodging levels. The data confirm the theory. However, the community criticized the dataset as too small."

    "We will postpone this discussion until my inner eye does not distract me with an image of a container for fluids and a mechanism to make it dodge when someone mentions the word ''tank''. But great job with empathy, sweetie."

    Flora inspected the list of abilities again. "I have another question. Why is Balancing ranked so high? In the real world, I appreciate it for its spiritual value as well. I believe a more balanced body will lead to a more balanced mindset. However, this opinion is highly controversial and has bad historical connations. So what''s up with balance in the game?"

    "Aito sent another thread from the forum named ''Abilities every tank should train''."

    "Is the post constructive, or is she trolling me?" Flora half grimaced, and half grinned while suppressing the image of an oil tank eager to enter the Treadmill Tunnel to shore up its abilities. She knew that tanks were the masochists of the game, but couldn''t switch off old associations.

    Aito beeped smugly.

    "I wouldn''t assume. She sent another link, ''The value of Balancing''. The first article mentions that many bosses have attacks to sweep you off your feet and earthquakes. The second adds jumping puzzles, tricky PVP maps, and two lucrative dungeons, in which the whole group needs the skill."

    "Time to puzzle the equipment together without jumping to conclusions. No, thank you, I don''t want to know what a jumping puzzle is.

    1. Running -\u003e Treadmill Tunnel

    2. Dodging -\u003e Balancing Beam ¡­ maybe another box?

    3. Balancing -\u003e Balancing Box (formerly known as Training Coffin), Balancing Beam

    4. Swimming -\u003e no

    5. Jumping -\u003e They can jump in the boxes if they want

    6. Melee -\u003e Training Dummy

    7. Ranged -\u003e Training Dummy

    8. Throwing -\u003e Training Dummy (Ammunition? Not my problem)

    9. Focus -\u003e Training Dummy

    10. Climbing -\u003e I''ll put some handholds and ropes under the Balancing Beam.

    Oh, Aidan! I have a great idea for a new box. I call it Boxing Box! A cabinet with some robot arms to punch the occupant. You can put Dodging on Auto and get some Tempering when you fail. Haidan can operate it if you still don''t dare to hit me."

    "I will manage to overcome my weakness for your benefit, Milady." Aidan said without irony while Aito mixed snickering beeps with volunteering beeps.

    Flora grinned but refused to comment on it. "Now, we only have to match the affinities to the boxes. Everybody gets some Wood and Light because of the toxic waste mana generators.

    Type | Nr | Affinity 1 | Affinity 2 | Ability | Mana

    Balancing Box | 1 | Faith | Metal | Balancing | 20

    Balancing Box | 2 | Faith | Wind | Balancing | 20

    Balancing Box | 3 | Faith | Shadow | Balancing | 20

    Balancing Box | 4 | Faith | Fire | Balancing | 20

    Balancing Box | 5 | Faith | Water | Balancing | 20

    Balancing Box | 6 | Faith | Mind | Balancing | 20

    Balancing Box | 7 | Psychokinesis | Earth | Balancing | 20

    Balancing Box | 8 | Psychokinesis | Ice | Balancing | 20

    Balancing Box | 9 | Fire | Wind | Balancing | 20

    Balancing Box | 10 | Wood | Water | Balancing | 20

    Balancing Box | 11 | Light | Lightning | Balancing | 20

    Balancing Box | 12 | Projection | Mind | Balancing | 20

    Treadmill Tunnel | 1 | Faith | Projection | Running | 20

    Treadmill Tunnel | 2 | Faith | Wood | Running | 20

    Treadmill Tunnel | 3 | Faith | Light | Running | 20

    Treadmill Tunnel | 4 | Fire | Light | Running | 20

    Treadmill Tunnel | 5 | Water | Lightning | Running | 20

    Treadmill Tunnel | 6 | Mind | Wood | Running | 20

    Treadmill Tunnel | 7 | Ice | Metal | Running | 21

    Treadmill Tunnel | 8 | Projection | Earth | Running | 22

    Boxing Box | 1 | Tempering | Faith | Dodging | 25

    Boxing Box | 2 | Tempering | Mind | Dodging | 25

    Boxing Box | 3 | Tempering | Fire | Dodging | 25

    Boxing Box | 4 | Tempering | Ice | Dodging | 25

    Climbing Things | Circle | None | None | Climbing | 0

    Balancing Beam | Circle | None | None | "Dodging/

    Balancing" | 80

    Maybe I overdid it with the options for Faith, but I have to think about my son.

    I was a bit sneaky about Anti-Flora training. You have to use three different boxes to cover my favorite affinities, Lightning, Faith, and Psychokinesis.

    Do you think I should substitute one of the lower priority affinities with boxes, like water and wind, with a unique affinity? This is difficult! Let''s delete the affinities for Balancing Box 2 (Faith/ Wind), and we''ll add the rune-scheme on demand." Then Flora turned to Eddie. "What kind of affinities would you like in a box if you could choose two?"

    "Water and Wind," He answered without hesitation.

    Flora checked the list. "I have both affinities covered, but you have to use two boxes for it? a Fire and Wind Balancing Box and a Water and Lightning treadmill tunnel."

    "Sounds good. I plan on getting some Lightning skills as well," Eddie said and grinned."By the way, I found a solution, and it''s splendid, though a bit expensive. What is our budget?"

    "What do you suggest? If the product is worth it and the prize is in VirDias, it shouldn''t be a problem."

    (1): I pirated this joke from Ar''Kendrithyst It''s a bit like gender-swapping this story; instead of a mother and son, you got a father and daughter. Besides the appalling lack of toasters, it''s a great read.

    (2): Merriam Webster Online

 103 2.9 Building a Training Facility â€“ Boxes

    Eddie sent Flora some links about what he found to evade the pain of training. The feature was called CommunityHub. You could log into it via a nock or magical binding and arrive at a shared area. It sounded so great that Flora asked herself why even have clan compounds when such a thing was available.

    When she read the disadvantages, she understood the reason. You couldn''t access your inventory or even take your clothes with you. Everything in the area had to be either bought from the Cetviwos shop or "imported" with hefty fees.

    "How about 10k? I can make the retreat nice with 10k VirDias." Eddie seemed pained. "But nice is another word for insufficient in the awesomeness department."

    Flora shook her head. She was too old for the prices these days. A scoop of ice cream should cost 50 pennies and not 5 Euros, and a virtual space should be free and not cost 1000 Euros.

    "How about 20k, and it''ll count as Robby''s birthday present?"

    Eddie laughed and gave her a thumbs up. Flora gave him access to 30k VirDias from her account but didn''t tell him about the extra money. That guy was unable to stay on budget, and Aidan would notify him about the extra money when he ran out.

    Flora finished the construction of the hut. After she did a quick check, she ordered the printer to churn out the parts. An idle printer was a wasted printer. Normally, she would have waited until everything was ready and do a few more checks, but it would take all of the night to print out the generators. The project was more rushed than she would have liked, but the PVP match loomed over them. She hoped the two additional days of training for the team would make a difference for the outcome.

    "Any change in the simulation grounds, Aidan?" Flora inspected the generators. All the lambs glowed. "How long are we in?"

    "No changes and two years and 293 days, Milady."

    "The time is already sufficient. Who knows when Robby will move to a bigger compound. I bet product cycles are insane in the virtual world. Double the time dilation just for science because we''ll print the generators as soon as the printer is free."

    Flora started the design of the boxes from scratch. The training coffin, she had experimentally thrown together. Since then, she had learned a lot of things from modifying it. For the boxes, she preferred to start with a clean slate on the workbench.

    A simple cuboid shape, 1.2mx2.5m x1.2m, with a telescopic sliding door built into the base. She added a vibration plate at the bottom for Balancing. No belts, if the Riverstones wanted to train movement skills, they had to crash into the wall. Therefore she added a panel with training dummy rune-schemes. This box would be able to endure the punishment.

    Flora drew footprints on the vibration plate perpendicular to the door and defined two areas for the damaging rune-schemes. She didn''t add the runes yet because they would differ for each box. Last but not least, she installed a healing turret on the ceiling.

    Both the turret and the affinity schemes would be fast discharging, but with a lower amount of effect, about 5 damage or healing. This way it was easier to reduce the health pool to lower than 10 percent. A 10 damage effect, like Flora used in the past, could easily crit for 20 damage, so you had to leave a high margin of error if you don''t want to end up dead. The goal was to toast the users and not to burn them.

    Flora''s AIs controlled her old training coffins, but she couldn''t count on everybody having an AI, and the number of boxes would exceed the capacity of the clan AI. Though Flora implemented access for AIs, they had to work for users without them as well.

    After researching her options, Flora decided on a control system guided by the pool values. She found modules were people logged in via their badge and gave the system information about their current status.

    Flora added a console to manage the mana feed of appliances. The healing turret was active from 0 to 25 health and the affinity rune-schemes from full down to 10 health. For providing the users with more options, she added a small user interface with customization.

    For testing purposes, she added a rune-scheme with a fear effect for Mind affinity and one which ejected a poison cloud for Wood affinity.

    "Hey Eddie, are you ready to try out the new box?" Flora asked teasingly.

    "I believe it''s your turn, love. But let me show you first the cute uniforms I selected for the CommunityHub."

    Two holograms appeared next to Eddie: a man in a very tight sleeveless shirt and even tighter white pants and a woman with a skirt that was so short it would expose her bum if the woman leaned forward and maybe free her breasts. Of course, both wore white sailor hats.

    Flora tilted her head. "You know that everybody would be forced to wear this?"

    Eddie nodded enthusiastically.

    "You can''t train in these clothes. They are not appropriate for physical activities or even different body types. I wouldn''t feel comfortable wearing this skirt, and someone chubby like Hub would have his midriff exposed by the male outfit. He might be okay with that, but I''m not."

    Eddie''s face fell. "Spoilsport." He mumbled, but then a waggish grin replaced his frown. "I can work out something!"

    Flora grinned, though she feared for her clanmates even more.

    Taking Eddie''s cue that it was her turn, she entered the box. Flora was average-sized, but even she felt claustrophobic. She couldn''t spread her arms and bumped into the walls until she remembered to put Balancing on auto-mode.

    In the soft glows of the runes, the luminescent poison cloud appeared forboding. Then the fear effect hit her, and she started shivering.

    Flora fumbled for the doors, but her quivering hands couldn''t open the mechanism. "Need panic button! And an info board."

    Finally, she managed to stumble out of the box only to get teased by Eddie about her disheveled appearance.

    "I heard you were trying to claw your way out, but I thought, I won''t interrupt you. I''m sure you gained valuable experiences." He smirked.

    Flora tackled and tickled him. Unfortunately, not for long. Because of Eddie''s superior Jiu-Jitsu skills, he turned around the situation easily, and Flora was at his mercy.

    "I yield!" she screamed between giggling fits. The short interlude of silliness released the tension of using the box.

    After Flora added a red shining ''EXIT''- button on the top of the door, she went in for another round. This time she stopped after ten minutes when the Mind affinity formed.

    Next, she turned to the Boxing Box. She took the Balancing model and increased the width to 2 meters and added robotic arms to the walls.

    The users would get hit by the fists if they failed to dodge, and the toxic waste of the generators would drop their health as well. Hence one affinity rune-scheme had to be enough. If Flora would let the second one stay, she needed an additional healing turret. The mana cost would get too high. At the moment, the Balancing Box and Treadmill Tunnel needed 20 mana-reg per minute and the Boxing Box with only one affinity scheme 25 mr/min.

    Although the generators produced 1482 mana per minute, she wanted to provide the clan some extra juice and deplete it for the training hut. Aidan calculated that they would have to use two printers continuously for 12 hours to produce them.

    Additionally, every box would include a pair of Six-Changing-Finger-Positions Rubber-Training-Gloves. Flora chained them to the wall because thieving was a thing. However, she told Aidan to remind her to put some of them into the clan store.

    Name: Six-Changing-Finger-Positions Rubber-Training-Gloves

    Type: Gloves / Magic Gizmo

    Description: Gives automated finger signals.

    Regular Mode: 1 Mana-Regeneration.

    Built-In Feature: Left Hand: changes between 3 positions every 2 sec; CD: 18 sec

    Built-In Feature: Right Hand: changes between 3 positions every 1.5 sec; CD: 3 sec

    Effect: + 2 training efficiency for Physical Micro-Control

    Tier: 1

    Rating: A

    Flora would provide Camus, the Riverstones AI, with all the information about the boxes, but still thought an info-sign would be useful. Especially for declaring what box raised what affinity. Ideally, they all should have a different paint job, but Flora hadn''t the time for it. So she added a plaque with a short description.

    "The Boxing Box trains the ability Dodging. Additionally, a rune of the affinity X will be active to increase your resistance level.

    Wear the provided rubber gloves and bind skills on auto-mode to their configured positions.

    For a painless experience, set Dodging and Balancing on auto-mode and log into a virtual subspace like a workshop, a meditation chamber, or the Riverstones CommunityHub."

    Last but not least, Flora did some minor modifications to the Treadmill Tunnel and prepared the affinity rune-schemes. The elemental and light affinity schemes were easy to choose; Flora decided on emitting the damaging effect like acid jet, poison cloud, flame, icy breath, light beam, and shadow bolt.

    For the Mind affinity, Fear had been pretty nifty. Flora wasn''t sure how well it harmonized with the Treadmill Tunnel. Would the users still be able to run? Of course, you could power through a bit of shivering, but when the fear effect stacked higher, and people began to freeze up or even flee, the result wasn''t obvious. Flora put the tunnel with a mirror Flora in the simulation grounds to test it out.

    The Projection affinity proved to be even more tricky. Flora found no rune-scheme with damaging effects, so she took one that transformed nearby shadows into monster illusions. In the dim light of the box, the Spooky Shadows Scheme would be extra spooky.

    Flora delegated fitting the affinity rune-schemes and adjusting the signs for each box to Aitoshuri.

    Satisfied and worried simultaneously, Flora checked everything once more and let her AIs examine the plan as well. Unlike her, they had the architecture and construction skill already at level 25. She could spend several more days on improving the training hut without getting bored. However, no deadline waited for perfectionists.

    "I''m finished for the night, dear. How are you doing?" Flora walked over to Eddie.

    Immediately, she identified his facial expression: guilt.

    "I might have gone slightly over the budget." He admitted.

    "Yes, I gave you more money because I know you," Flora said smugly.

    "I used that up as well, and then I had another great idea." Eddie gifted her one of those special smiles he only used to cover up shenanigans. "I''ll show the CH to you first, and you will see that I spent your money wisely. Lavishly, but wisely."

    Unfortunately, Flora was a sucker for a sweet smile and couldn''t be mad at him. "It''s virtual money anyway." She sighed.

    Eddie gave her access to the CommunityHub. He named it Riverstones Island. He did a great job, but 50 000 VirDias were too much. Flora heaped compliments upon him before she fetched her red marker and deleted the houseboats, the spar area, and replaced the bistro with a vending machine.

    "You are looking at it from the wrong angle, love," Eddie said. "I only used a bit more money, but it looked classy. After your changes, the hub is still expensive but appears cheap."

    "You have a point," Flora admitted. She reversed some of her decisions and brought the bistro back and hot tub area back. "I''ll make some boats myself and send you one, too."

    Together, they worked on the gym area, equipping it up with Stehaufm?nnchen, dummies, and weapon racks.

    "You should hire the PVP team to help to build the hut," Eddie said on the way out.

    "Why? Are they proficient in construction?"

    "Not that I know, love. However, they are the ones who should use the boxes, but they are unfamiliar with them, and everybody already has their favorite training regiment. If you include them in the development, their acceptance of the hut will rise."

    "And I''ll have a lot of testers for the new boxes!" Flora grinned.

    "Just don''t tell them it was me who gave you the idea." Eddie winked.

 104 2.10 Building a Training Facility â€“ Construction

    Flora sent a message to Lana about hiring the PVP team for tomorrow; a glance at the clock showed her it was already Monday Two?for today. She shook her head.

    "Aidan, remind me to take a nap after lunch. The training hut is important, but not as important as my health." It had been a few years since Flora was last so overworked. She could do it maybe for a month, probably shorter. Humans are creatures of habit, and her retirement had made her soft. She yearned for a nice soak in her hot tub before falling into her bed.

    After entering the workshop again, she looked at the simulation grounds, disappointed. There was no hot tub, no bed, and no unholy cliff, only the generators and lamps. Although the lamps still glowed, the loss of her usual sleeping place threw Flora off the loop. Of course, she could rest in the workshop as she did before acquiring the grounds but didn''t felt like it. Aborting the test was another option, but Flora was too curious about the results.

    "Aidan, what was the time dilation in the pyramid-scenario again?"

    "Three times of the Metaworld, six times of the real world, Milady."

    "Adjust the simulation grounds like that. I want to start early; maybe I can get enough sleep using the time dilation."

    Flora imported the boxing Box and enough generators to power it, then entered the simulation. She arrived in a cloud of fire and staggered. Had she been running? Flora fell. Instinctively, she tucked her shoulder and rolled, but hit a wall. A black shadow pounced on her.

    Flora screamed.

    \u003cBless and Condemn\u003e!

    \u003cBless and Condemn\u003e!

    \u003cBless and Condemn\u003e!

    The golden sparkles of the prayer illuminated her surroundings. She was in a Treadmill Tunnel. Taking deep breaths, Flora prohibited her pounding heart from jumping out of her chest.

    "Why? What?" She stuttered, her brain toasted.

    "Milady, you had experimented with a mirror-you and the Treadmill Tunnel with the Fear and Projection features. When you cast your consciousness into the simulation, you inhabited her body."

    "Oh, right." Flora felt foolish. "How did the test go? Was she?or I? able to sprint the whole time?"

    "Yes, Milady and the mirror obtained the Projection affinity."

    "Very good." Flora stood up. Slowly, she reclaimed her bearings.

    "We can''t be sure if I still would be able to get or train Projection if I log into a subspace. We''ll test it tonight."

    Flora modified the boxing Box, adding a the Spooky Shadow Scheme to the already implemented Unholy Scheme. After entering the box, she logged into the Riverstones Island.

    "It works! I wasn''t sure about it." Flora looked around the beach. Fine white sand led to the ocean. The moonlight fractured in the waves of the sea, and the beach seemed to glow in the darkness.

    Flora shivered.

    Mind-Controlled: Fear 1 x: Shivering: - 4 Physical Macro-Control; - 4 Physical Micro-Control. Remaining time: 10 sec.

    "This is scary!" Flora exclaimed. Her voice seemed unnaturally loud in the nightly silence. "I don''t mean the debuff, but look at the waves, Aidan! They don''t behave right."

    A picture of a stick figure throwing sand in the air appeared on her HUD. Aitoshuri had used cartoons before to suggest an approach to Flora, so she copied the actions. The sand sailed through the air, falling slower than normal.

    "Did Eddie implement a gravity effect?" Flora felt lighter than usual, but she wasn''t wearing her mech suit. Eddie had fixed the attire to something more modest and suitable for training, a baby blue tracksuit with the Clan Riverstones logo on the back.

    "I have no patience for guessing. I have to get as much sleep as possible." Flora mumbled and looked for a resting place. "Who knows if the time dilation works here¡­ oh! I got it! My personal time is flowing differently than the time of the CommunityHub!"

    Next to the beach stood the bistro, a bamboo hut surrounded by beach and deck chairs. Flora chose one of the latter and fell asleep.

    Flora woke up to the sounds of the waking forest. Birds chirped, and insects buzzed in the greyness before dawn. The blinking light of Flora''s unread notifications glowed extra bright.

    A quick check of the clock revealed it was just past five o''clock¡ªenough time to enjoy the rising sun.

    The bistro sat on the west coast of the small isle. Right next to it, the jungle started, but Flora could see a tall rock above the tree line. Eddie hadn''t been sure how to name it yet, and they had fun going through the most horrible alliterations: Pool Pike, Spike Swim, Peak Pools.

    Running and jumping through the thick underbrush, Flora reached the boulder and climbed up. On the top of the small mountain was an infinity pool which flowed over to lower basins. Now, that Flora knew of the strange time phaenomenon, the slowly falling water had something magical.

    The red and orange sky to the east announced the sun. Satisfied with the vista, she slid into the steaming pool.

    "Let''s go over the gains. I believe I have checked Sunday Two for the last time. For just one day, the notification button blinks fiercely."

    "You forced some achievements away after the fight with the pope. They contribute more to the glowing effect than just stat increases."

    Flora started with the stats. The attributes rose between one to six points each. The physical grew more than the magical, understandable for Flora. She ran around a lot and exercised her physical stats in the TA. The only magical training she got was in the boxes and the short fight in the temple. Magical Perception had been the last attribute to reach Tier 3, but rose by three points, uncharacteristically high. Maybe because of the Spooky Shadow Scheme? Now, all attributes but Physical Reg lay in the Level 50-100 range.

    Modest growth happened in the Affinity department, aside from the new ones. Mind and Projection shot up during the night.

    "Oh, those sweet early levels. I love how fast the numbers jump up, but then it all slows down to crawl. A bit like life."

    Flora hammered mentally on her HUD, speeding through the messages about skills and abilities. "I might have gone overboard with my skills¡­ do you know how many other players have?"

    "The average for level 1 players is eleven skills, Milady."

    Flora looked at her 106 skills and hurriedly closed the window. "Never mind."

    "Astral Vision reached 200, Milady. Aito suggests Hurry Up as an additional spell to raise to 200. It would increase the movement speed of all your connected machines, although only to a small degree. Unfortunately, Hurry Up, Fortify Link, and Increase Range have cooldowns. Therefore we have resources free for other spells to level."

    "Very good. I''ll soon get more classes. Meanwhile, level the crafting spells." Flora learned some new skills from working on the building. She still wasn''t sure if she should raise her combat skills past level 50. Knowing herself, she would grow too arrogant if defeating monsters became to easy.

    Finally, she reached the achievements.

    ***************

    You gained an Achievement: Resurrection Rally

    Description: Resurrect 25 fallen people during one battle.

    Rewards: Trait: Resurrector - +25% increased healing on the fallen.

    ***************

    You gained an Achievement: David versus Goliath

    Description: Defeat a level 250 boss while in tier 1.

    Rewards: Trait: Giant-Slayer ¨C Increased Skill efficiency against higher-tier opponents

    ***************

    "Why did I get David versus Goliath? I didn''t kill the Pope. Ceart did and much too soon for my taste. In hindsight, the rapid execution was pretty suspicious."

    "For every boss event, there is a contribution table. The rules for it are vast and under heavy critique. The table influences not only how much experience and loot you get, but also if the kill counts towards achievements or quests."

    "Please show it to me."

    1. Flowing Flowers ¨C 52%

    2. Ellaciel Zander ¨C 16%

    3. Tomos Ceart ¨C 9%

    4. Afstira Nomizo ¨C 8%

    5. Mino Irden ¨C 6%

    6. Babra Pikame ¨C 3%

    7. Tali Rondas ¨C 2%

    8. Deriga Ticet ¨C 2%

    9. Konstantin Kuvetli ¨C 1%

    10. Ursula Yl ¨C 1%

    Flora raised her eyebrows. "Most interesting and a lot to unpack. I''ll need more information about the rules of contribution. However, we have to go to the Riverstones now. We''ll resume later."

    With a last look at the rising sun, Flora logged out.

    After she left the workshop, she reorganized her inventory to free up space for the building materials. As she rummaged through her knick-knacks, she found a book she didn''t know she possessed.

    Name: Legacy High-Priest

    Type: Legacy

    Description: Class High-Priest

    Requirements:

    - Level 100

    - Class Priest

    "Aitoshuri looted the Pope, Milady," Aidan answered her unasked question. "Additionally, you received the original Holy Scepter and 50000 credits."

    "Great job with empathy, dear." Flora stored the book in her apartment but left the scepter on her person.

    Flora sprang down into the production hall. The room was filled with containers. Lorky and Torky had diligently put everything the printer produced in color-coded boxes, which Flora collected. Unfortunately, she had only 15 slots free because she couldn''t bear to leave her emergency supplies at home, and Flora counted a lot as essential equipment.

    Flora ported to the Clan Riverstones compound and jogged to the job site right next to the gym hut where a yawning Mia awaited her.

    "Mornin'', aunty. Henchgirl Mia is ready to work." She mumbled. "Lana wanted me to tell you that you have the authority to use the building interface, and she will join us shortly."

    "Good morning, dear. Please beam to my lair and fetch red and green containers."

    As Mia departed, Flora opened the yellow container and connected to the construction robots in it. Her mana regen only allowed her to power four robots. Therefore the first task was to get the mana generators assembled and running.

    "Aidan, you are the foreman? foreai? ¨C what ever, but listen to Aito''s suggestions."

    Flora started the building interface. You could hire contractors to do the work for you, and it would be cheaper, but using the system for hard work was the fastest way.

    With just a few clicks, Flora dug the foundations and paved the ground slab. The cement was already dry, so the robots went down and marked the places for the generators. Below the ground floor, she planned two additional layers of generators.

    The hole was six meters deep because Flora wanted to have two floors and the additional generators, but Lana only had permitted a five-meter high hut.

    Together with robots, Flora stuck the generators together and laid them horizontally on the floor. An octopussy minded the wiring, and Flora did a last check before adding the next layer of cement on top of them. She knew she would curse herself for not building any maintenance shafts, but she wasn''t familiar with architecture and had no time for fancy installations.

    The team repeated the process for the next layer. Additionally, they added the material for the outer wall.

    "Boss-Mom?" a female voice called from above. "Squad One-One ready for duty. At least the foot soldiers."

    "Come down; the work is down here," Flora called back. "You are Robby''s squad, right?"

    The speaker was a curvey, black-haired woman wearing a witches hat. "That''s right; the boss is joining us soon. I''m Ponda. We''ve already met when you had electroshocked Hub."

    Flora drew a blank, but the woman looked familiar. Sure, Hub got on her nerves now and then, but she wouldn''t electrolute him, would she? And if she did, she was sure he had deserved it!

    "This is the rest of the team: Normad. He doesn''t like to speak." A lean man with a huge bow on his back waved at her.

    "Olivia. She is too posh to speak." Ponda continued while her target, a blonde woman in an elegant robe, rolled her eyes.

    "And Hoffi. He is too stupid to speak but does it anyway."

    "Hey! Not true!" A stocky guy with a broken nose exclaimed. "I don''t speak much."

    "Great. Thank you for coming." Flora assigned the woman to connect more generators and the men to mount the beams while scanning their badges.

    *************** Squad One-One ***************

    Nickname: Ponda Pottom

    Level: 207

    Class: Weather Witch

    Clan: Riverstones

    Rating: S

    *****

    Nickname: Olivandra Cascade

    Level: 208

    Class: Priest

    Clan: Riverstones

    Rating: S

    *****

    Nickname: Normads Home

    Level: 208

    Class: Ranger of the Hunt

    Clan: Riverstones

    Rating: S

    *****

    Nickname: Hoffi Pump

    Level: 206

    Class: Paladin

    Clan: Riverstones

    Rating: A

    *************** Squad One-One ***************

    "What do you think about them, Aito?" Flora sent to her.

    The AI highlighted the A rating of Hoffi and his Paladin class, and Olivia''s Priest class.

    "That doesn''t mean that they only have this class, right? They could display just the simple class to hide their more advanced classes ¡­"

    "Beep beep." Aito disagreed.

    Flora didn''t ask further, although she wasn''t convinced. Not because she didn''t trust Aito''s judgment, but she found it inconceivable that someone would only obtain a simple class when there were so many opportunities.

    They finished the second layer of generators, and everybody cleared the floor. Flora used Power Jump to bridge the five meters to the surface. Normad jumped as well, while Ponda rode a broom. Olivia levitated and used the beams for vertical movement. Only Hoffi remained in the hole and scratched his head.

    "Uhm, guys?" The stocky man looked up for help.

    "Are you kidding me? Robby told you weeks ago to get a jump skill!" Ponda sighed. "You may use me as a target for Charge."

    "Charge!" he yelled, ran up the wall and collided with Ponda on the top. The witch fell but immediately sprang back up, glaring at the tank.

    Flora was not impressed but stayed silent and sealed the layer in cement. The ground floor came next.

    Now, Flora could connect the robots to the mana grid.

 105 2.11 Building a Training Facility â€“ Construction Part 2

    "Are you all part of the PVP team?" Flora asked the other ladies while they worked on the first floor of the future training hut. They connected generators to form columns.

    "Yes, but I''m reserve because I work only part-time. The other three are on the main cadre." Ponda, the curvy witch, answered, clicking another two generators together.

    Normad walked to them. "H, pls."

    "Mend!" Olivia said, and golden glitter surrounded the Archer.

    After flashing a thumbs up, Normad took the finished pillar and brought it to the wall.

    Although Flora lost health because of the toxic waste as well, the Refreshs she cast to keep her mana up covered the loss. Of course, Flora used magic for her work, mainly Psychokinesis, but she didn''t see any spells but occasional healing from the others.

    Flora looked over to Hoffi to find out whether he used any skills. Normad or Hoffi erected and secured the columns. Afterward, an octopussy added the wiring. Up to now, she didn''t notice any effects coming from Hoffi. Maybe he didn''t like casting spells? That was inconceivable for Flora. But she also couldn''t imagine PvPing without a jumping skill. When she prepared for the duel with Ressa, she had played a variety of maps. Some had rivers to cross or platforms to traverse. Sure, you could do it somehow without jumping, but not in a timely fashion.

    "Hey, Boss-Mom." Hoffi noticed her stare and turned towards her. "Your robots are dismantling my work."

    A forklift robot removed the column, where Hoffi had placed it directly next to the earth.

    "Yes. Look at it. There is no wall on this spot because there will be the door." Flora suppressed a sigh. Ponda had called the guy stupid. Flora had assumed she was mean, but now the possibility crossed her mind that she might have been just honest.

    Flora opened the building interface and constructed the tunnel towards the gym hut, a steep ramp leading up to the neighboring building. The system finished it in seconds as Flora''s VirDias fed the process. Of course, the expenses linked to her own account and not the clan''s.

    "Auntie, are you down there?" Hub called, peeking over the edge.

    Hearing Hub''s superfluous question, Flora figured Robby had no problems dealing with Hoffi because he was used to Hub.

    "Aidan, produce the first batch of boxes." Flora messaged to her AI and then to Mia, "If you see a blue container, pick it up with priority."

    "You are here! Are you mad at me? I did nothing this time, I swear. At least I don''t remember doing anything. Is that the problem, should I have done something?" Hub rambled as he jumped down. Two men followed him.

    "It''s fine, dear. I''m just busy. Welcome to the construction site. Thank you for helping out."

    "You''ll pay us, right?" Too Biased, a guy looking like a gigolo, asked. His black hair was slicked back, and he wore a designer stubble.

    "Haha, don''t mind him, Auntie. May I call you auntie? I''m so glad to meet you finally. Hub told us so many stories." Zapzerack Zapple, a young man with blue hair, said. His head swiveled rapidly, taking in the budding building.

    Hub coughed and elbowed him.

    "Sure, call me Auntie. Nice to meet you both, and of course, I''ll pay you."

    *************** Squad One-Two PVP-Players ***************

    Nickname: Too Biased

    Level: 210

    Class: Blackguard

    Clan: Riverstones

    Rating: S

    *****

    Nickname: Zapzerack Zapple

    Level: 211

    Class: Radiant Priest

    Clan: Riverstones

    Rating: S

    *****

    Nickname: RadBear Stone (Hub)

    Level: 208

    Class: Radiant Paladin

    Clan: Riverstones

    Rating: S

    *************** Squad One-Two PVP-Players ***************

    Flora assigned them work. The next step was building the outer walls for the upper floor and the generator columns for them and the roof. The tests she had run on the model demanded a stabilizing element, so she had to add a porch at ground level surrounding the hut, for anchoring the bamboo beams.

    The generator team relocated to the surface so that Flora could prepare the wiring on the floor for the boxes. When Mia arrived with four Balancing Boxes and four Treadmill Tunnels, she connected them to the grid.

    Flora grinned. In real life, it would be a terrible idea to work on hot electronics if you don''t want to end up toasted. She was excited to find out whether it was a bad idea in VR as well.

    "Hoffi and Hub, would you assist me for a moment, please?" Flora said, smiling.

    Nodding, Hoffi smiled back, but Hub looked suspicious. "You are asking awfully polite, auntie¡­"

    "Ah, I raised you well!" She patted his head, and he blushed and grinned. Too easy¡­

    In Germany, there was a special name for a special kind of user. They were called DAUs? dumbest assumable users(1). DAUs put guinea pigs in the microwave, their dicks into vacuum cleaners, and produced blue screens on Macs. You think you know all the possible uses for your home appliances? Give them to a DAU, and you''ll find problems the world has never seen before.

    DAUs weren''t used for quality testing because no matter how safe and sturdy your product is, they''ll find a way to either destroy it or hurt themselves. However, Flora enjoyed watching them. They could be intelligent and just have a complicated relationship with technology, but often they were not. Therefore Hoffi was an excellent candidate to test the boxes. Hub was a longtime favorite of Flora and had proven his DAU status countless times. Fondly, she remembered when he managed to entangle his hair in an eggbeater to such a degree, they had to cut it off.

    "Gentlemen, these boxes are for training. I would appreciate it if you would test them. I relayed all the relevant instructions on how to use them to Camus. Please mind the information signs."

    "Sure, how do they work?" Hoffi asked.

    "I won''t answer that because I won''t be here 24/7 to explain it to everybody. " Flora smiled. Hoffi was off to a promising start. "Please use the resources I told you about. That will show me if they are sufficient and clear enough."

    Hoffi shrugged and entered the nearest box. Of course, he didn''t read the information sign on the outside. However, Aito had added the same instructions on the inside as well, so he had a second chance.

    "The Balancing Box trains the ability Balancing. Additionally, damaging runes of the affinities Faith and Metal will be active to increase your resistance level.

    Wear the provided rubber gloves and bind skills on auto-mode to their configured positions.

    For a painless experience, set Balancing on auto-mode and log into a virtual subspace like a workshop, a meditation chamber, or the Riverstones CommunityHub.

    Use the glowing red EXIT Button on the ceiling for emergency departure."

    "I''ll take the oblong box. I''m excited!" Hub rushed into a Treadmill Tunnel, of course, without even glancing at the info sign. The rune-schemes were for Faith and Projection. Flora looked forward to his reaction.

    Wailing came from Hoffi''s box.

    "Do you think I should soundproof the boxes, Aidan?" Flora pondered. "I''m not sure about it. With time they will learn to log into the subspaces, so they have to scream only at real emergencies. On the other hand, everybody got a messaging system and the clan chat, so verbal communication is not really necessary."

    "I don''t think we''ll need soundproofing. Milady, have you unlocked Hoffi Pump and RadBear Stone for the Riverstones Island?"

    "Oops, no. My bad. Please register and activate everybody in the PvP-Team."

    Hoffi''s screaming was still going strong. When Flora approached the box, she could make out words.

    "Blooooooooooood!" He howled.

    "Do you need help, Hoffi?" Flora yelled. "At the ceiling, you''ll find a red button to open the door."

    "I''m color blind!"

    "''EXIT'' is typed on it."

    "I''m dyslexic!"

    "Dyslexia doesn''t make a person blind to the shape of letters. Look for the only button on the ceiling."

    "I have needles in my eyes and see only blood!"

    "You could have mentioned that first¡­ Oh well, feel around for it near the door. The ceiling is the part at the top of the box." She added to prevent him from claiming that he didn''t know what a ceiling was.

    "I don''t wanna exit. The training is great. I already gained a lot of levels." He yelled. "Bloooooood! Paaaaaiiin!"

    "Well¡­ " Flora was stumped. "You don''t have to endure the pain. Just log into the Riverstones Island. My AI, Aidan, will guide you through the process."

    "No pain, no gain! I can endure it to get stronger!"

    "Yes, dear. But you don''t have to." Flora was distracted by the sounds coming out of Hub''s box. "Think about it, I''ll be back in a jiffy."

    While Hoffi''s screams sounded fitting for the torture he inflicted on himself, Hub''s sounded like battle cries.

    Suddenly, the tip of a sword appeared, puncturing the box.

    "Die demon!" Hub roared.

    Raw power condensed around the sword. Shrieking metal fought against ceramics until the box broke. When the dust settled down, Hub''s glowing form stood in the debris.

    "Well, you killed the box, hero," Ponda said. Most of the other Riverstones had laid down their work and approached to watch, attracted by the yelling.

    \u003cRepair\u003e

    "The rune-scheme produced projections of monsters. They weren''t real Hub." Flora explained with a wry smile. "However, congratulation on shredding a training dummy. I didn''t know it was even possible."

    Hub grinned at her sheepishly and scratched his head.

    "I''ll set the zone of the hut to level 1 as soon as possible," Lana said, who had arrived just in time to witness the rampage. "Then Hub shouldn''t be able to overwhelm the dummy runes."

    Flora greeted the tall woman and the people who came with her, Honey and Eddie.

    "We figured out how to supply the Riverstones Island, love. You just have to put stuff in a dedicated room, pay the fee, and it transfers. Most marvelous!" Eddie grinned. "And we are having a BBQ at noon, an island warming party. Hurry up with your part of the work while we''ll do our part, preparing the feast."

    "Aye, aye!" Flora winked.

    Lana and Eddie entered two Balancing Boxes while Honey mingled. The petite brunette asked the players about equipment requests for the CommunityHub. She even convinced Hoffi to quit screaming.

    After locating the containers with the parts for the mezzanine floor, Flora started the next phase of the construction. Four pillars would carry a twelve-meter wide disc. The robots had stored the components. All Flora had to do was to stick them together. For this, she started the gravity generator. It was much more comfortable handling the concrete slabs on lower gravity, not to mention lifting them on the pillars.

    When Mia arrived with more boxes, Flora distributed them across the two levels, and the robots handled the wiring.

    The work on the outer wall progressed well; only the roof was missing. However, they still had to install a lot of mana generators. Even the printing of them wasn''t finished yet.

    "Rob, my man! You arrived for our favorite part, the roofing!" Hub exclaimed when Robby appeared. "Fear not, Auntie! Both of us have tiled every hut on the compound. We are specialists."

    Flora demanded a hug from her son before she let him join Hub.

    Normad, the silent archer and Zapple, the blue-haired priest, helped Flora installing the Balancing Parcour, a ring of narrow beams around the second floor. A second ring, attached to the outer wall and loaded with robot-arms wielding morningstars, joined the first three meters above it.

    "Lunch is ready on Riverstones Island!" Eddie yelled and vanished again in his box.

    "Thank you very much for your work," Flora said after getting the attention of the workers. "It''s looking great so far. We''ll use the lunch break to test the boxes. Please read the manual." Flora glanced at Hub and Hoffi while the other players laughed.

    The clan members chose the Boxes they fancied. Some like Ponda entered fast, while others stared at them in trepidation. Normad cast several spells on it before he dared to enter. In hindsight, Flora thought that it might not have been the best course of action to let the DAUs use them first. Their screaming had been a lousy advertisement.

    Flora jumped up to the mezzanine floor where Robby stood.

    Robby beamed at her. "Awesome, Ma! I''m looking forward to the boxes and the CommunityHub. Hub was laying into me to get one for a while. I tried to convince him that he was the Hub of our community."

    Flora chuckled. She reveled in Robby''s joy. "It''s your birthday present. You may use it now even if it''s still a few weeks until your birthday."

    "Thank you." Robby hugged her. "Any more Boxing Boxes on the ground floor? I''d like to try one, but I deferred to the other melee fighters."

    "No, sorry." Flora looked around. The training dummies weren''t really necessary. It would be more efficient to move them to Riverstones Island. She could replace them with more Boxing Boxes.

    "I''ll find a good training option on the ground floor. Where do you plan to put the stairs? I kind of like the open ring for running. Would be a shame to lose the opportunity to jog rounds."

    Flora froze. Stairs?

    \u003cBless and Condemn\u003e

    She flinched. She messed up, and now she even cast a spell because of her anti-freeze conditioning.

    "Ma?" Robby looked around for any attackers.

    Flora''s mind seethed. In her panic, she even broadcasted her thoughts to her AIs. "Think, Flora! You did so well, and now you destroyed your streak, just because of forgetting stupid stairs! Think!"

    A video of Hoffi using Charge to climb out of the job site appeared on her HUD.

    Flora sent Aito a surge of gratitude.

    "Sorry, sweetie. I was distracted for a moment. There will be no stairs. It came to my attention that some people need to be motivated to learn jumping skills."

    Robby laughed and nodded, but she could see that he hadn''t entirely bought her explanation, but that was fine. As long as there was a reasonable cause, nobody would accuse her of senility.

    "I have an idea of how you can still use a Boxing Box. Let me show you my workshop."

    (1) German: DAU: Duemmst anzunehmender User. "Duemmst" means "most stupid", I translated it with "dumb" to honor the acronym. Thanks to Glory Fink I know now: "''Dumb'' is a former term used in the medical community to designate someone beyond society''s efforts to educate or improve." So, maybe "densest assumable user"? But I don''t want you to think they have more mass XD. Nonetheless, you get the picture of those special people.

 106 2.12 BBQ Planing

    Flora chose a Balancing Box with Psychokinesis and Ice while Robby took the one with Faith and Metal next to her. They logged into Flora''s workshop.

    "Woah! Ma!" Robby exclaimed as he inspected the workstations. "That''s the most elaborate workspace I''ve ever seen! That must have cost millions!"

    "Courtesy of CentralTank," Flora answered while checking on the lamps. They were no longer glowing. Aidan informed her the first malfunctioned at 12 years and 23 days, and the rest followed in the next two years. "The real treasure is the simulation grounds."

    Flora showed him first how he could import himself and his items into the grounds then guided him to the training dummies.

    "You can work out here while your consciousness is in a second body in the simulation. Aidan will answer all your questions while I reconfigure the grounds."

    When Flora finished reloading the unholy cliff, Robby was already pummeling the dummy. She joined him and transferred her consciousness into the simulation.

    Two Boxing Boxes with Projection and Mind rune-schemes awaited them there.

    "Amazing, Ma! No wonder you are so strong."

    "I can influence the time dilation in the grounds as well. However, we might have communication problems in Riverstones Island when we are faster than the others."

    "Haha, we do it another time and prank Hub!"

    "Okay." Flora grinned.

    "Finally, your sausages are getting burned!" Lana greeted them when they arrived at the bistro area.

    "I won''t burn nothing!" Eddie hollered from behind the BBQ-grill.

    Robby and Flora piled their plates with food and joined the others. The clan members had moved the picnic tables together to form one big table and sat around it, eating and chatting.

    "The training works great, Auntie." Zapple, the blue-haired priest, said. "I had to deactivate my leveling notifications because they kept popping up like crazy. I just wish there were more Boxing Boxes. They looked fun."

    "I''ll add a few more. Nobody used the training dummies even though you can train Dodging with them."

    "I would never use them and log into Riverstones Island when I know Hub is online. He will draw a mustache on my face if I''m not safe in a box." Olivia said, and everybody agreed immediately.

    "I''m not that evil." Hub looked hurt. "I would only draw flowers and stars on your face."

    "It would be better for you to use the treadmills." Honey said. "Movement speed is one of our weaknesses. Mobility in general."

    "Yeah, Hoffi still can''t jump," Ponda said. "And don''t complain about tattling, oaf! It''s for the greater good of the team. Just go to Fortend and get it done."

    "I won''t spend an afternoon going to classes. I quit school for good." Hoffi crossed his arms.

    "Why can nobody teach you?" Flora wondered.

    "Nobody has the skill high enough or something." Hoffi scoffed.

    "You need the skill on level 50 if you have the teaching ability, level 100, if not," Robby answered. "Jump doesn''t scale well with level, so nobody trains it."

    "I''ll raise Power-Jump and teach you," Flora said. She could imagine that Jump was annoying to level manually. You had to wait 25 seconds for its cooldown and then hop in the air like someone toasted your feet. Not very dignifying, but a solvable problem even without a box.

    "How long until you would be ready, Ma?"

    Aidan assured Flora that they could get it to the required level in two and a half hours, and Flora relayed the information. "I have to stay here during the duration, though. Can you finish the hut without me?"

    "Sure. Your class will be big. Everybody should get it." Robby said. When he saw Flora''s stunned expression, he added, "Most of us use Step skills.

    "We could teach Hoffi that, but he would be more dangerous to us than to our opponents with Agility below Level 25." Too Bias said, smirking.

    Flora was flummoxed. How could anyone have such a low Physical Macro-Control stat?

    "Being a Paladin is complicated! You need physical and magical attributes and Hoffi is tanking, too. We have no free points for Agility!" Hub defended Hoffi.

    "I have 25 levels in Agi." Hoffi grinned, unperturbed. "Just got the message."

    Everybody of Squad One-One cheered. Flora smiled. She wondered what had happened because of his lack of stats to provoke that level of delight.

    "Great, we are progressing. We can even lessen our second weak point with the help of the CommunityHub." Robby pointed to the ocean. "Underwater Combat."

    The players groaned.

    "Auntie, please tell us, you have a solution for automated swimming, too!" Zapple urged her.

    "Sure, I could build a tank. Maybe with a jet, to get a real work out. I''ll need more space, though. Lana mentioned a limit on the number of buildings we are allowed to have."

    They decided to build pools beneath the old gym hut. Flora suggested using acid water because only training abilities without affinities was boring. Nonetheless, Robby insisted on combat training in the ocean because the ability alone wasn''t enough.

    "Auntie, I''ve worked on a driving simulator. I would appreciate your help with it. Leveling Driving would help the team, too." Mia said. Flora spotted her only now. The mousy girl was good at getting lost in a crowd.

    "Of course, dear. Send me your blueprint and questions, or would you prefer to meet for a crafting session?" Flora smiled at her. She didn''t like the latter because communicating and being social messed up her flow, but she would give the girl a chance. Additionally, it tied in towards the larger topic of women in STEM fields.

    Flora grew up with the propaganda that women were better communicators than men. Her experience showed her otherwise. Maybe women were better in verbalizing, but men sometimes did what she had called the "pack thing". They surrounded the problem like a pack of hunters and poked it from all sides. Every man knew their place and time to attack, but she had a hard time joining in the rhythm without verbal cues.

    They spoke during those phases, but nothing anyone could understand on a logical level, including themselves and their peers. However, on a hunter level, these cryptic sentences did make sense; they showed intent, comprehension of the hunt, and built a common culture.

    She learned it was the best to be silent and let them do their pack thing and, at an opportune time, swoop in and pluck the fruits from the tree they treated as a wild animal, make marmalade out of them, spread it on toasts and present it to them. Usually, they appreciated the snack after the strenuous hunt.

    So, supporting other women in engineering was a must. Although Flora couldn''t teach them the pack thing, there was plenty of room for more female approaches to engineering, and Flora utilized several in her long career.

    "I''d love to send you questions. Thank you. I like to figure it out by myself, but ran into a roadblock." Mia said in her usual style. She stated it as a fact and showed no emotions like hope or distress.

    Flora nodded, still smiling. She really liked the independent streak in the girl and would honor it by not giving excessive advice.

    "I''d like to have one of those in the new hut. The training from a Driving Box would have helped in the Mad Max PvP arena." Honey said, looking at Robby, who nodded.

    Three people arrived at the beach. Flora recognized Tigressa, Robby''s fiancee, but hadn''t met the other two.

    *************** Squad Two-One PVP-Players ***************

    Nickname: Tigressa Flameante

    Level: 209

    Class: Fire Shot

    Clan: Riverstones

    Rating: A

    *****

    Nickname: Jelonso Emba

    Level: 204

    Class: Fire Shield

    Clan: Riverstones

    Rating: A

    *****

    Nickname: BBQ Grillmaster

    Level: 202

    Class: Fire Healer

    Clan: Riverstones

    Rating: A

    *************** Squad Two-One PVP-Players ***************

    "Team Fire finally arrived," Lana said mockingly, visibly swallowing insults.

    However, she wasn''t the only one commenting. Flora overheard several critical remarks between the greetings but wasn''t fast enough to identify the speakers.

    "We are close to finishing the hut. No need to bother showing up now, guys."

    "Some people always appear when there is food, and never when there is work."

    Tigressa hurried to Robby and hugged him.

    "The boxes are marvelous darling and so many with Faith! Your mother takes such good care of you. I haven''t found a free box with fire, though." She looked at him pitifully. "Emba, Grill and me will manage. We''ll just take turns."

    "Hello Ressa." Flora said. "There are four boxes with fire. Nonetheless, I''ll remove the training dummies and put six additional Boxing Boxes and more Balancing Boxes on the Mezzanine level. I''ll put Fire rune-schemes in some of them."

    "But weapon abilities are essential. I''m using a dummy currently." A dark-haired man with intense blue eyes said. His badge identified him as Jelonso Emba, a Fire Shield.

    "Really?" Hub beamed and sprang up. "I''ll be back in a minute ¡­ I just have to do something in the hut."

    "No, you don''t!" Robby and Olivia said simultaneously.

    Hub sat down with a dejected sigh.

    "I''ll attach the robot arms to a thin training dummy and vary the size a bit." Flora suggested. "What other affinities do you like to include? Maybe something VIPs would be interested as well."

    "Light." Zapple and Hub answered.

    "Magical Body Control, definitely We could do with more Ice and Wind boxes. Blood and Death might be interesting, too." Robby said.

    "More Metal," Mia added quietly. Flora nearly missed it because a discussion broke out, whether they needed more Wood and Light boxes. Some of the players had noticed increases in the resistances even though they had chosen another affinity to train. So Flora explained to them that it came from the toxic aura of the generators.

    During the rest of the meal, Flora doped out the affinities of the new boxes. She removed the Stehaufmaenchen from the plan and put a long Boxing Box for ranged fighting and Mia''s Driving Sims there instead.

    Because of the leveling of Power-Jump, Flora didn''t want to log out. She needed the Simulation Ground to double her training, and she had nowhere else to escape from hopping in the box. Eddie''s research had produced a few other subspaces she wanted to look into, like the Meditation Chamber, a subspace for mages, or a Shrine for classes of the divine branch. She had put it on her to-do list.

    The loss of Deriga''s workshop hurt. Flora couldn''t recover the shop because it was bound to the Novice. The SG allowed her to save items, but not people. Flora wasn''t unhappy about that. She might be tempted to load a Robby clone otherwise and would have felt bad objectifying him.

    Hence, Flora was stuck at Riverstones Island for the next few hours. She deligated the task of modifying the boxes to Aito and told her only to leave the new rune-schemes for Body Control, Blood, and Death affinity to her and print the rest after the generators.

    At the table, the conversation had shifted to empty mana bars of everybody, and the falling stamina bars of the dodgers and runners.

    "After I bound Bloody Mana, Pray, and Battle Cry to those nifty gloves, I fared pretty well," Hub said.

    "But using three of the six available skills just for regen?" Ponda asked. "Though, I use Access Leyline, too."

    "Why not? They are important skills, so it''s good to level them anyway. I did the same. Let me channel a mantra to get you going again." Robby said. Then he started glowing and chanting in a low voice. Flora didn''t have mana problems with Refresh, Pray, and Elemental Power Gain in the simulation. The body in the workshop used Bloody Mana, too. However, more mana and stamina were always nice to have, so she ordered Aidan to research Battle Cry and Access Leyline.

    "Battle Cry the signature skill of the class Warrior, Milady. It shares a cooldown with Re-Generate and works similarly. The secondary effect comes from Magical Body Control, a slight increase in physical stats.

    Flora''s interest sank.

    "You warrior types have it good. I''ve chosen a treadmill, so I can''t use Access Leyline. That leaves only Pray for me." Zapple complained.

    "Access Leyline is the base spell for the magic branch, Milady. It reduces the mana cost of all spells in the magic branch while standing with both feet on the ground."

    "You should get Relight. Rekindle serves me well." BBQ Grillmaster, the red-haired Fire Healer, said.

    "Yeah, I should. But then I have to heal even more. I want to develop my damage skills." Zapple threw his hands in the air. "Besides, the questline is bothersome."

    "I can teach you Relight, and I want to get Access Leyline. We could trade spells." Flora said.

    Robby interrupted his chanting. "When did you finish the quest for Light Healer, Ma? It usually takes a few hours; days if you haven''t unlocked all the bleaming circles."

    "I got it through a challenge from System." Flora shrugged.

    "Nay, that''s not fair, Auntie. I don''t want to rip you off. You can get Access Layline as your very first spell as soon as you visit the Talpica Uni. Are you interested in the spells of the Radiant Practitioner class? The quests for it are ugly, too." Zapple said. Delighted, Flora agreed.

    (JNH: Post a picture of the new hut layout and the list of boxes and Team Fire)

 107 Mias Backstory

    "Get ripped off by three orphans! Bet on the shell game!" Henry, wiry Mediterranean boy, strutted in front of a small stand and shouted to the passerby.

    Mia set behind a fold-up table, slowly shuffling three cups in front of her.

    Her brown bangs fell over her eyes, and she hid inside an oversized, shabby hoody. Next to her, Tom lounged lazily on a folding chair. The chair seemed comically small compared to his massive body. At the age of twelve, he had already passed the 6 feet mark. A sign leaned against him. "Support the Local Youth Center"

    "Get your good deed of the day over with. Play with some orphans." Henry yelled.

    An elderly woman strolled by, her eyes glued to Mia''s Table.

    "Oh, I love old school cons!" She exclaimed and stopped. "This is the old army game, where you have to guess under which cup the coin sits, right?"

    "Yes, Ma''am. Indeed, take your chance for only one Euro. If you guess right, you get two bucks back. If you get it wrong, you can leave with the good feeling of having supported a worthy cause!" Henry said.

    "Great! But aren''t the cups usually the same color?" The salt and pepper-haired lady stared at the three mismatched mugs. "You shouldn''t make it too obvious that you are going to switch the coin around. Or maybe this is a new approach in which everybody knows the trick, but you still have to execute it perfectly? How exciting!"

    "Yes, Ma''am. We are the most honest swindlers around."

    The woman laughed but secured her toaster-shaped handbag after she pulled out a fiver.

    Mia showed her a dried white bean and put it under the red cup. Then the hands of the girl began to blur while the woman gaped.

    Suddenly she stopped and lifted the blue cup. The bean was under it.

    The woman clapped. "Excellent! Haven''t seen a thing."

    Mia started again and went even faster.

    "Red, blue, green. Where is the bean?" Henry sang.

    On the last note, Mia stopped and looked up.

    "Uhm¡­ green!" The woman guessed.

    Mia lifted the cup, and the bean was under it.

    "You are a natural, Ma''am! Congratulations on winning one Euro. Do you want to go double or nothing?" Henry asked.

    "No, thank you, dear. I''ll leave with a win, and you keep the five Euros. It''s been a pleasure. Good luck with your fundraising."

    "Thank you, Ma''am. Have a splendid day!" Henry waved after her.

    When she had left, he counted their money again.

    "Lady and Gentleman, we have enough to start our career in crime!" Henry grinned.

    Mia shook her head. "We are earning all right, mate. Let''s just keep this up a while longer."

    "You''ll be fifteen years soon. If the pigs catch us then, you would have to do real time. Now is the best chance for taking risks. We can do whatever we want and get away with only a slap on the wrist." Henry chirped. "What''s your opinion, Tom?"

    Tom shrugged.

    "Mia?"

    She sighed but nodded.

    "It will be fun. We will be like Robin Hood, stealing from the mean rich and giving it to the poor orphans."

    Only two days later, Henry had a plan, and Mia a new set of lock picks.

    Their first target was Hazy Harry, a sleazy businessman and the owner of the gambling joint Gold Spring.

    Tom knew a clerk who was working there from his MMA Gym. Gross G had bragged about how much money Harry made while he pummeled Tom to pulp. His loose lips gave the teens additional information to exploit like Harry used to sleep Tuesday nights with his mistress and delayed depositing the daily income for pleasure.

    Wednesday morning, Henry spammed the social media of Harry''s wife with pictures of him and the Tuesday Lady.

    As soon as the boss left the venue, Tom entered.

    "Hey, kiddo. Aren''t you a bit young to join the club?" Gross G hollered.

    "Oh come on, G. After the beating last week, you owe me at least a few chips to have a bit of fun." Tom approached the desk.

    Mia and Henry arrived, wearing a blond wig and a fake beard respectively. Tom''s impressive statue blocked the line of sight between the entrance and the first row of machines, and they used his distraction to vanish behind the one-armed bandits.

    "Don''t gamble away your future. You are young, you have talent, all you have to do is train hard and keep your nose clean, and the future is yours." Gross G didn''t hide the envy in his voice. "Just looking at your potential makes me want to smash you to the ground."

    "Sure, smash away." Tom glared at him.

    Henry showed Mia his upturned thumb and pointed at the corridor to the backroom. The two teens sneaked around the corner.

    "Tom is doing great!" Henry whispered, giggling.

    "Shut up." Mia hissed. She checked the first door, and a broom closet was behind it. The second door led to a loo, but the last one was locked. Mia fetched her instruments, and a few seconds later, the lock clicked.

    Henry flashed her another thumbs up. His head flicked from Mia to the fighting sounds coming out of the gambling hall, back and forth, but he was grinning like a maniac.

    They entered the small office. It contained a desk with a laptop, two chairs, and a painting of a naked woman bathing in a golden spring.

    While Mia searched the drawers, Henry glanced under the picture.

    "Found the safe." He smirked and took the painting of the wall.

    "Good, let me handle it."

    Meanwhile, Gross G had Tom in a headlock. The teen struggled, but when his vision turned black, he tapped on the biceps of the older guy.

    Gross G let him go, and Tom slumped to the ground.

    "Crawl home, kiddo." Gross G emphasized the statement with a kick to Tom''s side.

    "The fuck I will." Tom picked himself up, but his knees wobbled, and he had to lean on the desk to support his weight.

    "You lost. Do you want to lose again?" Gross G sneered at him but froze when his gaze caught the display of the security footage. The door to Harry''s office had opened, a head poked out, and then it closed again.

    "You dumb shit." He yelled and flattened Tom with a haymaker before he ran to the office.

    Mia concentrated on cracking the safe when the door slammed open.

    Without warning, Gross G lunged at Henry and took him down.

    "Help!" Henry yelled from under the bigger man.

    Mia lifted the safe and dropped it on Gross G.

    Later, she wouldn''t remember how it happened or what gave her the strength. However, the next scene was etched into her memory for eternity: Henry gaping at the blood¡­ on top of him Gross G¡­ on top of Gross G''s head the steel safe.

    Henry scrambled free.

    "We have to go. Shit. Now." He urged, but Mia was frozen, staring at the fallen form of the big man.

    "Mia! Fuck. Snap out of it." Henry tucked on Mia''s arm and dragged her out of the office.

    Tom stumbled toward them. "Sorry I couldn''t buy more time." His swollen, bloody nose muffled his voice.

    "Help me with Mia. We have to flee."

    A few streets later, Mia found her footing again.

    "We have to call an ambulance for Gross G," Mia demanded.

    "We can''t, they''ll trace the call back to us," Henry looked back.

    "What about the security footage?" She asked. "Tom''s blood?"

    The teenagers stopped.

    "Shit," Tom said.

    "You do the call, Tom. Just stick to the original plan. You don''t know us, just visiting a training mate and seeing some shit going down." Henry said.

    Gross G didn''t make it.

    The flimsy story of the teenager didn''t survive their first police interrogation.

    Henry and Tom were too young for full legal culpability and received eighty hours of community service. Mia took responsibility and spent her 15th birthday in jail. No one paid the bail for orphans.

    The court ruled attempted theft and negligent homicide under duress, four years in a juvenile detention facility.

    The detention facility was a fancy name for a floor located inside a women''s prison. The twenty girls had their own showers, a community room, and a separate timeslot for their one hour in the yard. Mia was the youngest inmate, but living in an orphanage had prepared her well for prison. She was used to the powerplays of her inmates and undebatable rules.

    Free time was Mia''s enemy. Whenever she had nothing to do, her mind came back to the still form of Gross G. Therefore, she loaded up her schedule with free electives.

    The inmates attended schools via virtual reality helmets from 8-12 o''clock. Mia chose further courses from 13-16 o''clock. She couldn''t get around the one hour she had to spend in the yard, so she pushed her body to exhaustion with running laps. Being physically drained made the therapy session afterward easier. The hours until curfew were the hardest to pass until Mia discovered the library.

    One month into her sentence, the guidance counselor called Mia into her office.

    The woman browsed through her files while Mia watched her impassively. Then she answered a string of questions with monosyllabic answers. Was she settling in all right? Yes. How were the relationships with the other inmates? Good. Was she bullied? No. Did the school work go well? Yes.

    "Very good, Mia. I received positive feedback all around from your handlers. If this continues, you can expect to get out sooner due to good conduct."

    Mia said nothing. She didn''t want to think about her life after prison. Who would give a college scholarship to a murderer? Who would hire a murderer?

    "The virtual reality company that runs our school system contacted us. They are interested in test data for their full-time immersion pod."

    The woman supplied her with leaflets and gave her a day to think it over.

    Browsing the leaflets, Mia discovered an answer to one of her unasked questions. Who would provide a full college scholarship to a murderer? CentralTank, the parent company of their education system.

    Mia just glanced over the rest, her decision already certain. Now, she just had to stuff seven years of education into a four year prison sentence.

    For the first few months, only the virtual campus and her lair were open. Besides locations for the classes, the campus had a common room, study areas for small groups, a library, and an outdoor area. Her lair contained a couch and nothing more, but she could spend her VirDias on commodities like a bed or desk or even more space.

    Central Tank gave Mia 10 000 VirEP per week, the internal currency for the education system, for completing a survey. Only two noneducational items could be purchased with it: A t-shirt with the school logo and the standard menu of the cafeteria. Additionally, she received a one time payment of 10 000 VirDias as a welcoming gift. Because you could exchange VirDias to VirEP, she used them only sparingly.

    Mia settled into the rhythm of 8 hours of coursework, 6 hours preparation for the courses and homework, one hour of jogging, one hour of eating and administrative stuff she couldn''t skip like her weekly meetings with her shrink, and 8 hours of sleep. Now and then, she had to cut back her sleep for additional cramming for tests, essays, or real-life things like doctors'' appointments.

    In the next few months, the campus grew? new buildings, new outdoor areas, gyms, and teleportation circles for faster travel.

    When Mia received her Hauptschul-Abschluss, she registered for further studies. In the real world, she would have to do three more years to get an Abitur. Only then she would be qualified to attend all colleges.

    Planning out all the necessary credits and loading up her schedule, as only a severe workaholic or a person fleeing from free time could, she reduced the estimated time to one and a half years. She would be faster if her guidance counselor permitted her to attend school on Sundays and not demanded at least two courses of physical education per week.

    In an aggressive mood because of the bad news, Mia selected martial arts and archery. To Mia''s chagrin, not only her guidance counselor but also her shrink approved her choices. At least she could spend her Sundays with tournaments or workshops. Now and then, she was even allowed to attend a more educational workshop like crafting or robotics.

    Over time, she had to admit that the sport and contact with other teens preserved her sanity. She stayed in the same MMA class but changed up her second P.E. class every three months.

    The whole of 2049, Mia spent grinding away. She barely noticed her 16th birthday. Even when CentralTank announced they would consolidate all their different virtual reality worlds into one big system, the CentralTank Virtual Worlds or Cetviwos, she took no notice.

    The grand opening fell in the final test week for her graduation. Messages piled into her HUD about attributes and achievements, but she clicked them away because she needed every second she got to prepare for that ugly geometry test.

    After she finished graduation, she noticed a few changes. Her lair now had a door. She exited it only once to discover she was in a kind of highrise settlement. The messages said it was in a server called "Metaworld". She shrugged and carried on.

    With a bit over two years left on her sentence, Mia started college. Fitting a three-year education into two years was doable. She planned on finishing it in one and a half years because she feared getting kicked out of prison for good behavior.

    Because of her excellent grades, she qualified for an advanced program that condensed the best possible education with a focus on technology into 1,5 years. Although it was expensive and took all her VirEDs and most of her VirDias to book it, it only demanded a dedicated level of work and not a superhuman level like her previous load.

    Now, she had free time and didn''t know what to do with it until one of her fellow students mentioned that you could earn money in the virtual world, and you could transfer this money called "VirDos" into the real world.

    Any kind of regular employment was out of the question because she was underaged and needed the guidance counselor''s signature. However, there was a game on one server with yet another currency, credits, and you could exchange the credits to VirDos.

    Mia entered the game.

 108 2.13 Teaching the Pebbles

    While Flora prepared the spell diagrams of the Light Healing class for Zapple, the blue-haired Radiant Priest, a message from Mia appeared on her HUD.

    Mia MyMio to Flowing Flowers: "Would you craft me two coins? Those spoons are sucking for dex training."

    Flora glanced over to Mia. The girl twirled a spoon between her fingers. To Flora, it looked very artistic and not sucky at all, but everybody has different standards. Stooping down, she picked up a handful of sand.

    "The standard attack spell is called Focused Radiance. It''s a Tag type of prayer. The marked target receives a part of the skill effects of other targets in its vicinity. The good stuff for friendlies and damage for enemies." Zapple explained and cast it on Flora. Then he put Fortification of Faith on himself. For just a moment, Flora saw temporary hitpoints appearing on her HUD, but the damage from the Boxing Box immediately depleted them. Flora got the picture, though.

    "Nice!" Flora exclaimed while condensing the sand into a marble via Transform Inorganics. "Would you show me the skill diagram, please? I have a knack for them."

    "I can cast from diagrams, too. Great, that will speed up the process." That speed was important to him was apparent. Not only did he talk quickly, but he also fidgeted a lot.

    Zapple sent the diagram to her HUD. In turn, Flora transmitted Light Healing Bolt.

    Focused Radiance had the general form Flora associated with prayers, with rounded horizontal and straight vertical lines, but she saw the parts reminiscent of light spells, too. The area which governed the targeting bled into the effect part and was much fancier than any she encountered before. Only thanks to Zapple''s information, she knew what it did. Nonetheless, to cast it, she just had to memorize it and redraw the lines with mana.

    \u003cFocused Radiance: Mia MyMio\u003e

    \u003cLight Healing Bolt: Zapple\u003e

    ***************

    You gained a new skill: Focused Radiance

    Description: Target has a chance to receive the effects of single target skills aimed at other targets in its vicinity; Friendly targets benevolent effects, opponents harmful effects.

    Duration: 10 sec

    Cooldown: 1 min

    ***************

    Flora could see from Zapple''s eye-movements that he was still busy analyzing the Healing Bolt. Hence she spent time flattening the glass marble into a coin. An idea crossed her mind, and she got excited.

    Flowing Flowers to Mia MyMio: "Do you want a mana or stamina regenerating rune-scheme on it?"

    Mia MyMio to Flowing Flowers: "One for each. You are too groovy, Auntie."

    Flora engraved a generator scheme that transformed kinetic energy from rubbing or twirling the coin to mana-reg. Then she used the mana-reg to power a Magical Regeneration enhancing rune-scheme. On a whim, she tossed the rune for playing and Dexterity in the mix.

    Name: Mana Spring Rolling Coin

    Type: Artifact/Toy

    Description:

    Regular Mode: 1 OV Mana-Regeneration

    Effect: Gain 1 mana for every round of rolling the coin across your knuckles

    Effect: Gain 5 mana for every ten rounds you complete without pause or error.

    Tier: 1

    Rating: S

    As Flora expected, the conversation of power meant little to the game: The mana gains exceeded the generated mana from the scheme. She tossed it to Mia.

    "Do you need more time, Auntie?" Zapple asked. His head followed the shimmering coin through the air.

    "No, I''ve learned it. We can exchange the next spell." Flora sent him Light Healing Rain.

    The next diagram was similar to the single target skill, so Flora had no problems adapting it.

    \u003cExploding Radiance\u003e

    A circle of light spread from Flora as center outward. It covered the table but not much more.

    \u003cFire Healing Rain\u003e

    Healing Fire had as a secondary effect a small chance to increase Physical Regeneration, which was the reason Flora chose the element. She made sure to hit all the players with it.

    ***************

    You gained a new skill: Exploding Radiance

    Description: The targets have a chance to receive the effects of AoE skills in their vicinity; Friendly targets benevolent effects, opponents harmful effects.

    Duration: 10 sec

    Cooldown: 1 min

    ***************

    Flora was intrigued by the spells. Although they had a long cooldown, they had the potential to unleash mayhem.

    "What the *bleep*? Who gave me all the stamina, and why haven''t you done it before?" Hoffi exclaimed.

    "Please consider displaying friendly effects. If you set the transparency really low, they won''t trouble you." Ponda sighed.

    "Or at least don''t ask questions. You can check your combat log for answers." Too Biased drawled, not bothering to look up from Mia''s hand and the rolling coin.

    The topic seemed to be attrited. Nobody volunteered an answer, so Flora kept quiet too.

    "Wow! You already learned it," Zapple said quickly."Give me just a moment more."

    "Would you make me a coin as well, Auntie?" Too Bias asked.

    "Sure." Flora started on Mia''s second coin, while the others asked about them. Soon, everybody wanted one.

    "You do realize that you can''t take them out? I believe they''ll even vanish tonight when the Island will reset." Flora tossed the next coin to Mia. The stats on it were the same, just for Physical Regeneration. "I''ll make some for the clan shop and some to be imported into the Island. However, I''ll work during learning spells, so if you want coins, you better feed me."

    Flora smiled to take the sting out of the words, but she very much meant what she said.

    "I can make the coins permanent, Flora. It''s cheaper than importing." Eddie said. Flora nodded, good to know.

    Zapple and she continued to trade spells. The paladins weren''t stingy, either, and she got the whole class. Robby even sent her three classes, Martial Artist, Monk, and Martial Monk, because he was a sweetie. Before he could even think of gifting one of his coins to Ressa, Flora traded with her the Fire Shot class.

    "Of course, I''ll teach you the class, Flora!" Ressa said immediately. "I would love to have four of these coins in the normal game as well. Would that be possible?"

    Flora agreed. She wanted Fire Shot badly, to connect Marksperson with the rest of her tree.

    From the Fire Shield, Emba, she received the Warrior class in exchange for four coins.

    Ponda taught her Access Leyline, Olivia Mingle, Normad Tag, and Too Biased Blur. They explained to her that those were the base skills of the branch. They were openly available for everybody, and you didn''t even have to pay a teacher for it. Most major branch factions had mannequin-routines. Vaguely, Flora remembered that she saw one at the Homemaker''s Heaven for Repair.

    Aidan provided Flora with a list of all base skills.

    Branch | Name | Description

    Divine | Pray | Gives back points for one pool.

    Warrior | Bloody Mana | The user gets a fraction of their caused or received damage as mana and stamina.

    Magic | Access Leyline | Reduces spell costs when having both feet on the ground

    Techno | Overclock | Forces more mana-reg through a nock into a gadget to raise rating temporarily

    Survival | Tag | Gives back mana and stamina if you do something with the target you tagged

    Trick | Blur | Regenerates pool points when you aren''t targeted in the duration

    Crafting | Repair | Repairs things

    Social | Mingle | Regenerates pool points if you do social abilities

    Only Overclock was missing. Mia offered to teach it, but Flora refused. She would pick it up when she visited the Garage tonight or tomorrow.

    Flora was concerned about the fact that it was the first time she heard of Base Skills even though she knew three of them. Her reliance on the AIs to research gave her only the answers she was looking for. It didn''t expose her to the random bits of information you absorbed while browsing. Admittingly, this was the reason she deligated forum reading to the AIs in the first place. She had suffered an information overload at the beginning of her stay in VR. Maybe now that she was more familiar, she should research herself.

    Of course, Flora didn''t stop exchanging spells with Zapple.

    ***************

    You gained a new skill: Radiant Destination

    Description: Sets a glowing X on the floor. All friendlies in the range may port to the location.

    Duration: 10 sec

    Cooldown: 1 min

    ***************

    You gained a new skill: Radiant Circle

    Description: Lays a glowing circle on the floor. Every defensive skill cast inside has a chance to spread its effects to the other friendlies inside the circle.

    Duration: 10 sec

    Cooldown: 1 min

    ***************

    You gained a new skill: Divine Radiance

    Description: Aura. All effects you induce on yourself have a chance to spread to nearby friendlies.

    Cooldown: none.

    ***************

    You gained a new class: Radiant Practitioner

    Name: Radiant Practitioner

    Branch: Divine

    Passive: + 1 Training efficiency modifier when Divine Radiance is active

    Active: Bonus for skills used on yourself when Divine Radiance is active

    ***************

    Flora was very impressed by the class. She was glad to have received it, doubly so because she hadn''t expected it considering the others had mentioned it required a quest. However, she didn''t dare to voice a question out of fear to summon the Administrator.

    Currently, Zapple labored to grasp Relight, sweat streaming from his face. Flora thought the poor boy suffered from stamina loss because of running in the treadmill, but she learned it was a different mechanic from the jibes of his colleagues.

    "Hey, Zapple. Met your match? Concentration running low?" Too Bias quipped, rolling his coin over his knuckles with proficiency.

    "Haha, the auntie is outlearning you." Hoffi laughed. "Who is the stupid one now?"

    "Guys, with friends like you, I don''t need enemies. This is complicated stuff, shut up." Zapple flashed them the bird. He seemed to be stressed out but enjoying himself.

    "Zapple knows more skills than all of you combined," Robby said. "Learning a whole class from diagrams takes more concentration than y''all have."

    Flora was confused. She looked at her concentration bar, and it was pretty low, but still on the first bar. It worked similar to stamina, in fact, it was the magical version of it.

    "Refresh covers most of your concentration expenditure, Milady. Nonetheless, I had to use Pray for Concentration a few times."

    Flora arranged with Aidan that she would cast Relight on Zapple when it came off cooldown. Because she had the spell in the 4th tier, he would profit from the milestone Third Wind and regenerate more.

    \u003cRelight\u003e

    "Your mama is a monster, Boss. That Relight was over level 100."

    "We know, mate." Commiserating, Hub patted him on the back. "We know."

    "Hey!" Flora protested. "You better tell me that ''monster'' is a gaming term for a classy lady."

    "Of course!" Hub said hastily.

    "Sure!" Zapple added, nodding rapidly.

    The players laughed while Robby kissed her cheek. Flora was mollified. For a kiss from her son, they were allowed to call her anything they wanted.

    "But Auntie, can you tell us how you leveled the spell so fast? You are barely a week in VR." Hub asked.

    "I sleep in a subspace while my body is in a box. I''ll add sleeping boats for Riverstones Island as soon as I have a free minute so that you can do it too."

    "That''s brilliant!" Honey exclaimed, and the others agreed.

    "Please add anti-mustache features," Olivia said, which caused Hub to pretend to be insulted again.

    The topic of sleeping reminded Flora that she felt gassed out. Her gaze focused on the Paladin. "I''m going to take a nap, and I don''t want any distractions during or after it."

    Hub saluted her.

    "We all should get back to work." Robby proclaimed and stood up.

    While the Riverstones logged out, Flora ran towards the Pool Pike. First, she changed the time dilation to 1:3 then she entered a cozy pool in a grotto. She stripped off all her clothing. If Hub still decided to hunt her down to draw on her face, he would be punished with an eyeful of old granny in her full glory.

    "Wake me up in three hours, dear." She mumbled to her AIs before falling asleep.

    Flora dreamed of connecting mana generator pillars. The toxic waste cores hopped out of their mounting and rolled over the floor while Flora chased them. Then dream-Flora cast a net of toasters, pinning them down.

    "A net!" Dream Flora and real Flora exclaimed.

    Jolting awake, Flora sketched a net in the water of the pool, while explaining her idea.

    "Let''s make the loops one meter big and place the generators on the intersections. The net will be the wiring for the generators. We have only one layer, but the bothersome stacking is no longer necessary. The workers can just place the stretched net on the floor, ceiling, or walls, and the generators are already perfectly spaced. Additionally, we can transport huge nets in a single container. Aidan, build the net in the workshop and print enough for the pool area. Plan for 9x7x9 meters. There will be nine 3x3x3 big tanks and a bit of headspace to put some additional boxes."

    "Yes, Milady!"

    Flora settled back in the water. As soon as she closed her eyes, she fell asleep again.

 109 2.14 Contribution Analysis

    Slowly Flora awakened. She needed a moment to remember where she was. The little cave with the hot pool was unfamiliar. Only a bit of light reflected from the tunnel to entrance illuminated the wet stone.

    "Right, I''m on Riverstones Island," Flora said. "How much time until the class, Aidan?"

    "1 hour 12 minutes Cetviwos Time, 3 hours 35 minutes in time dilation."

    "Has Jump reached level 50, already?"

    "Yes, Milady. I continued to level it. A higher level will help with the lesson."

    Flora nodded and complimented him for his diligence. Now, she had time to look at her new classes, but she hesitated.

    "I believe I overdid it again," Flora confessed while letting the water run through her fingers. "I knew I wanted to go easy on acquiring new skills and classes, but I just couldn''t resist¡­ do you know whether the fallen novices have survived?"

    Paladins carrying their unconscious forms out of the church was the last she had seen of them.

    "Yes, Milady. Bibus Wendigo died, and Ondrak Cardosi pulled through."

    Flora sighed. "Bibus died because I didn''t know my skills well enough. I planned only to get new ones when I mastered the use of the ones I already have."

    "Milady, the outcome would have been the same if you wouldn''t have acquired the skills you didn''t use."

    "Interesting perspective! Maybe and maybe not. If I had only the Elemental Healer and the Priest classes, I would have remembered about Thaumaturgy. That spell would have made a difference. The standard attack, area of effect, defensive, and movement skills are easier to remember than the signature skills. Alright, it would be totally possible that I''d confuse which is the optimal shield to use in the heat of the moment¡­ or movement skill¡­"

    "Should I display prompts with suggested skills?"

    "Thank you for the offer, but I already rely too much on you and Aito. Besides, Aito has shown good judgment when to show me a skill. So we leave it like this." Flora said, but then another thought crossed her mind. "Did I use my scepter? I didn''t! While casting the healing rain with one hand, I could have shot those cute little healing beams with the other hand. Please remind me that I have two hands when I forget about it again."

    "Yes, Milady."

    "Maybe I shouldn''t judge myself too harshly. I''m new to fighting and seeing people die in front of my eyes." Flora shook her head. "Those council members got rid of the pope before I regained my composure. We were interrupted the last time we spoke about that, weren''t we? There was some mechanism to show how much people applied themselves in a fight?"

    "Alright, let''s speculate what everybody contributed."

    Aidan and Flora came up with a list, using the video footage of the fight for details.

    1. - Flowing Flowers ¨C 52% - Chaining the Pope, building the armor/chains, healing and organizing the fallen

    2. - Ellaciel Zander ¨C 16% - Blocking the AoEs with the barrier, damage

    3. - Tomos Ceart ¨C 9% - Killing the Pope, mitigating the Pope''s damage

    4. - Afstira Nomizo ¨C 8% - Helping Flora build the armor/chains, healing

    5. - Mino Irden ¨C 6% - Damage, helping Flora putting on the armor/chains

    6. - Babra Pikame ¨C 3% - healing, buffing, organizing

    7. - Tali Rondas ¨C 2% - organizing

    8. - Deriga Ticet ¨C 2% - organizing, buffing, healing

    9. - Konstantin Kuvetli ¨C 1% - organizing, buffing

    10. - Ursula Yl ¨C 1% - buffing, healing

    "Hmm¡­" Flora said. "The more I see of the fight and the stats, the more I think, Irden and Ceart didn''t give their all."

    "I''m not sure, Milady. I have done a bit of research because I wondered why Aitoshuri was so much better at fighting than me and came up with some illuminating articles. It seemed there is the concept of "weak points", hitting certain areas like the head or neck that generate more damage."

    "Of course, even machines have flaws," Flora said.

    "The articles told that NPCs don''t exploit weak points." Aidan continued. "I can confirm that my fight algorithms suggest I should hit the center of the opponents."

    "Interesting! The head is a smaller target than the body, and the neck is even harder to hit. So, I can see the point, if you want to optimize the chance to score, you''ll aim for the spot with the most tolerance for errors." Flora pondered. "Alright, thank you. I will keep that in mind when judging their performance."

    Flora had suppressed the notifications for the new classes, but now she wanted to look at the Paladin class to analyze Ceart''s options. Maybe he didn''t have good skills?

    Name: - Paladin

    Branch: - Divine/ Warrior

    Passive: - + 1 Training efficiency modifier for faith

    Active: - No Metal Handicap for shiny Armor

    STA: - Righteous Strike - Half of the effect damages an enemy, and the other half recovers mana. CD: none

    AOE: - Presence - (Channeled) All enemy skills weaken.

    DEF: - Retribution - Reduces incoming dmg and reflects a fraction of the reduced amout back to the originator

    MOV: - Protect the Weak - Ports to an Ally to intercept an attack

    SIG: - Center of Attention - (Channeled) All enemy STS will be partially redirected to the caster, including healing spells.

    "Truly a class for masochists and very special people. Look at Center of Attention. Even if I hadn''t known that Hub had this class, I would have guessed it from the description."

    "I have included Paladin in your tree for training, Milady. Should I delete the class from it?"

    "No, I''m pretty special myself if I dare to say so. And anyone who''d seen my boxes knows about my masochistic tendencies." Flora smirked, but went back to the topic. "Presence sounds powerful. Did Ceart use it? Reducing Razo''s skill damage would have helped."

    "Yes, Milady, albeit sparingly."

    "Puh. Maybe he had mana problems? Righteous Strike doesn''t recover mana when it doesn''t hit, right? Razo dodged a few of his strikes."

    "Maybe and yes, Milady."

    "However, only 9% contribution, even though he decapitated the pope, is pathetic. Ceart should have ranked higher." Flora examined the list again. "Irden''s participation is even worse. Let''s look at what Monks can stuff into a toaster."

    Name: - Monk

    Branch: - Divine

    Passive: - + 1 Training efficiency modifier for abilities associated with the God

    Active: - Bonus for fighting unarmed or with blunt weapons

    STA: - Mendicate - Health Transfer from Target to Caster. CD: 25 sec

    AOE: - Mantra - (Channeled) Replenishes pool values. CD: none

    DEF: - Firm Belief - Shield against intent damage. CD: 25 sec

    MOV: - Kinhin (meditative walk) - (Channeled) Increases difficulty of being targeted by skills. CD: 25 sec

    SIG: - Ora Et Labora - (Channeled) Using Abilities generates Physical Regeneration. CD: none

    "Cute." Flora chuckled. "Now, I understand his contribution. Not much oomph found here. I like Ora Et Labora, though. However, channeling it constantly while crafting would be annoying."

    "Abbot Irden is a Martial Monk. Should I display the class?" Aidan answered. "By the way, the signature skill of this class allows us to use Ora et Labora as a boost. We are currently training it, using the ability Dodging for funneling Ora et Labora."

    "Great! Show me, please."

    Name: - Martial Monk

    Branch: - Divine/ Warrior

    Passive: - + 1 Training efficiency modifier for Magical Body Control

    Active: - Trains faith when using hand-to-hand combat

    STS: - Righteous Fist - Half of the effect damages an enemy, and the other half recovers mana. CD: none

    AOE: - Fists of Flurry - (Channeled) Attacks enemy multiple times, every 3 hits a shockwave occurs. CD: none

    DEF: - Meditative Fighting - (Channeled) Increased difficulty for being targeted by skills. CD: 25 sec

    MOV: - I bow to You and Roll with it - Reduces all incoming damage during and a short time after a roll

    SIG: - Internalized Technique - (Boost) Transforms a prayer or technique into a boost. CD: 10 sec

    "Wow, Internalized Technique sounds amazing! A pity that it doesn''t work for all skills, but maybe we can do something about that. Display the diagram."

    After Flora stared at the spell matrix for a while, she yielded. It was above her comprehension, at least for now. "There are such strange lines around the effect. Are they restrictions?"

    "There is a lot in the small print, Milady. You can''t use it for skills with a higher CD than one minute, no weapon skills like Righteous Strike, and no movement skills. If you would boostify Bless and Condemn, it would cost you 25 mana-regeneration, the cost of the prayer in MR, but the effect would be drawn out to one minute."

    "I guess not in a good way like constantly raining the entire effect on my enemies, but tiny amounts now and then?"

    "Exactly. The chances are good that the Magical Defense of the opponents would negate it."

    "What about using it with Mantra?"

    "Mantra has to be chanted. It can''t be silent; therefore can''t be boostified. The same counts for Battle Cry."

    "What a pity. Internalized Technique sounded so useful at first. At least the word boostify is cute."

    "It is rather powerful in combination with Ora et Labora, or Focused Radiance for team activities, and Divine Radiance. Radiant Martial Monk is a metaclass and very popular."

    "What are metaclasses?"

    "The most popular and successful classes in a competitive environment."

    "Ha! Good for my son, being all popular and successful!" Flora beamed. She looked up Divine Radiance. It was a boost that spread positive "effects induced on oneself". So other players would profit from Ora et Labora as well. Not bad. Her eyes widened when she reread the description of Focused Radiance.

    Target has a chance to receive the effects of single target skills aimed at other targets in its vicinity; Friendly targets benevolent effects, opponents harmful effects.

    "I see what you meant with team activities. When a few people heal in Robby''s vicinity, he gets all the good effects and even spreads them to his friends."

    "The chances for receiving the effects and spreading them are far from perfect, Milady."

    "Oh well, details." Flora was satisfied her baby had the means to keep himself safe. After trying to remember where she trailed off-topic and failing, Aidan helped Flora back on track.

    "We analyzed the contribution of Abbot Irden, Milady."

    "Honestly, I don''t see much damage potential, and Nomizo healed, too. It would have been better if one of them had joined me healing the clergy."

    "Please consider that I only showed you the standard skills for the Paladin and Monk classes. For NPCs, every tier and increase in RGS has a chance to open a slot for a new skill. We have no way of knowing what prayer, though."

    "In summary, we have no concrete evidence of either neglect or diligence." Flora harrumphed. "Let''s forget about the council. We should remember the people further down on the list. Deriga and Tali did great. Who are the others?"

    "Babra Pikame, level 199 monk, is the former abbess of the monastery on the Converge, currently working parttime as an assistant of Irden due to child care.

    Konstantin Kuvetli, level 189 paladin, is the former captain of the guard on the Converge. The Pope demoted him due to impropriate behavior.

    Ursula Yl, level 9 paladin, is a prot¨¦g¨¦ of Ceart. Her high potential due to being A-rated and having an RGS of 10 while still being a teenager makes her one of the most promising tier 1 members."

    Aidan accompanied his introduction with pictures. Flora recognized Pikame. She was the Fireling monk who had teased Irden about his eating habits. "Investigate what ''impropriate behavior'' Kuvetli has done. My definition might vary from the former Pope''s. Is there any indication why Pikame didn''t raise her kid on the Converge?"

    "No, Milady. However, it''s common to move to the Cradle for child care. In a level 1-5 world, the chances are much higher for the kid to survive."

    Flora''s eyebrows rose. She hadn''t thought about what levels meant for having children. Of course, she would prefer a safer environment, too.

    "Let''s go to the temple. I want Deriga''s workshop back."

 110 2.15 The Opposition is rearing their white Heads

    Five men sat around a conference table in a white room. Even though Jesus stared down on them from a ceiling-high cross drawn on the wall, the conversation was not in the spirit of loving thy neighbor as thyself.

    "We have to secure the Champion spot. With the quest influencing power of the Yellow High Faction, we can change to make this world a more Christian place, a better place." A white-haired man with a sharp bridged nose said. "Tell me about your plans."

    "We devised an accelerated training regime for our Champion." Another white-haired man, with round cheeks, said. "We''ll spare no resources to push his level 1 stats for the competition."

    "The strategies to side-track the other candidates are underway, your Grace. We are focusing on the false Champion and the Mormon." A third man with bushy eyebrows said. He was younger than his colleagues and the only one with his hair still brown.

    "What exactly do you have planned?" The round-cheeked grandpa asked. "We don''t want to go overboard. This mustn''t fall back on us."

    "Of course, my Lord Bishop." The brown-haired man, his tone less respectful than before.

    "Don''t worry, brother. We are in a game, after all. Those young people will expect a few hurdles. It wouldn''t be fun for them otherwise." The fourth old man laughed.

    When Flora logged out of the simulation grounds and the workshop, she found herself on the job site of the training hut. Not that she would admit it to anyone, but she had forgotten about the ongoing construction.

    "Hey, Auntie, how was your nap? We are nearly ready, but Mia brought some strange nets we couldn''t find in the plan. Where should we put them?" Hub hollered from the roof.

    "They are for the pool area," Flora said while looking around. The hut seemed fine. They even managed to remember the second door. A narrow bridge connected the mezzanine floor. To reach it, you had to cross the balancing beams with morningstars out to kill you, though.

    "What pool area?" Hub asked.

    "Right. Best, I should build it before you''ll think you have completed all work." Flora went into the tunnel to the Gym Hut on the ground floor. Using the construction interface, she created a ramp downward, building a staircase. Then she excavated the room below the gym. Virtual Reality was awesome like that. She stabilized the walls and transmitted the deployment plan of the generator nets to the Riverstones.

    "I''ll be back before you know it!" Flora sent to Robby and sprinted towards the teleportation circle.

    Flora would love to craft right now, building the tanks and the sleeping boats, but it would be so wasteful to do it in her own workshop and not in time dilation in Deriga''s. The irony having a top-notch workspace, but using a standard version because of time constraints, wasn''t lost to her.

    Aito sent a link to Flora: "Three things I wished I had known on level 1."

    "That''s a clickbaity title if I ever saw one." Flora quipped, but asked Aidan to summarize it for her.

    1. Even though you could play every content at every level, some achievements are level specific, so you have to tackle them when you are in the appropriate level range. Examples: Leaderboards

    2. The system doesn''t squeeze your stats below the value you had when you were at that level through mechanisms like level normalization or Training Time Suppression(TTS).

    3. Don''t put level-up points into Magical Regeneration. MR isn''t as important as it seems.

    "Uhm, what? Let''s start with issue three. Mana Reg is awesome! I can get more turrets with it, rank up my mech-suit, or apply nice boosts. What is there not to love about MR?" Flora exclaimed.

    "Actually, Aito highlighted the second bullet point, Milady." Aidan said. "But to your question, the article explains that boosts amplify your stats by a factor. So the attributes have to be high for the boost to be effective. The author argues that MR is the easiest stat to train up; therefore, no points should be wasted on it until you really understand your build and its necessities."

    "Alright, we think about it when we level up. What''s up with issue two? I don''t understand the sentence."

    "Excellent segway, Milady. It means if you level up before 5 o''clock Saturday One, your stats will never fall below the value at that time. This rule was established because casual gamers complained that there stats got reduced to the starting value of ten, just because they hadn''t time to play for a while. Cases like yours, people who discovered effective training methods before two weeks are over are rare, and the mechanic is a valuable exploit. You should train to the most excessive extent in the days up to Saturday, at least until you reached level 100 in every attribute."

    "Wow. I don''t know what to think about that." Flora said as she speeded over the trees of Talpica. She had cast Pray for Stamina and Ora et Labora as a boost to offset the stamina loss from Sprinting, Agility Boost for more grace, and Divine Radiance because she liked the glow. "How are the chances of leveling the attributes to 100 in time if I won''t use any boxes or subspaces?"

    "Zero. Even with your most optimal training, it''s questionable whether you reach 100 in the perceptions. With just regular gaming like questing or conquering dungeons, the probabilities are zero even for Magical Regeneration. To bring the level 95 MR to 100, it would take 244 hours of regular training."

    "That puts a damper on my plans for this week. I still have to sort out the clergy of Evailyn and finish the church in my lair. Additionally, I wanted to conquer HI3 and get the Animator class. Maybe learn Alchemy and plant some herbs in my roof garden. And let''s not forget about those extra OV points from achievements, I should get some of them too before level 2, right?"

    "Yes, Milady. The OV bonuses are more important than any extra attribute points past level 100."

    "Okay, make a plan how much time I have to spend each day in a box + workshop + simulation ground box + ¡­ let''s leave what kind of subspace I''ll use free. Ignore the Perceptions."

    "Without time dilation, eleven hours per day, including Saturday One, excluding today."

    "Totally doable, especially if I have Deriga''s workshop to tinker. We aim for 22:00 to 10:00 and include time dilation to build a buffer. Please, remind me if I deviate."

    "Your Scrying resistance just rose, Milady."

    "Oh, from what?"

    "That''s the issue, Milady. Nothing we do levels scrying. Someone might be spying on you, or it might be the police. You are exceeding the speed limit for tree walking again."

    "I know, but I''m pressed for time¡­ and I''m having fun." Flora grinned until the police stopped her again. She paid the fine as fast as she could and resumed running and smiling.

    When Flora entered the temple, Bishop Nomizo hurried towards her.

    "We have a problem, Champion. In the last hours, reports arrived that our sacred places are getting defiled. Even the temple in Zauberberg was attacked." The Woodling said. Her posture radiated concern.

    "Please, prepare a report. Do we know who the culprits are?"

    "No. It takes no genius to suspect it''s a fallout of yesterday''s events."

    "What kind of countermeasures are we taking?"

    "Most of our people are out there investigating," Nomizo said after a short pause.

    "Where is Ceart? At least we should double the guards around the temples. I noticed no increase from my previous visits. At the opposite, there were fewer guards on the entrance than that time you wanted to delay my visit." Flora wasn''t amused. She still wasn''t too sure about the responsibilities of a Champion, but implementing basic security shouldn''t be part of it.

    "Ceart is at Zauberberg, leading the investigation."

    "Where is Deriga?"

    Nomizo checked a datapad. "She is repairing a shrine in Marino."

    "Please, call her back. Is she alone?" Flora grew concerned. She hadn''t hidden her attachment to the young novice. If someone would want to hurt her, using Deriga for it would be a viable way.

    Nomizo consulted her datapad again. "Yes, I''ll call her, and she is alone."

    "Please send out only teams of three people. We have to keep our clergy safe."

    "But that would delay the repairs! We can''t leave our sacred places defiled." Nomizo exclaimed.

    "I''m sure Evailyn will understand. Places can be rebuilt, people not. Do you have a way to issue player quests?" Flora sat down on a bench. Her brain churned out ideas.

    "Yes, but we have no funds for it. You have to pay at least 10 000 credits to the world god and then additionally rewards for completed quests."

    "We might be able to make lemonade. Give me a moment to think it through." Flora pursed her lips. Evailyn needed more followers. The first step was to bring her to the attention of the players. Flora hasn''t met a player yet who knew of the existence of Evailyn. Even the well informed Mia had never heard of the most awesome Goddess of Home Appliances.

    A quest would be a nice advertisement. Now, Flora only needed to make it juicy.

    "Aidan, tell me again what players covet the most in such games. You had condensed that bragging ranking last week¡­"

    "Users brag about their stats, levels, achievements, rating, ranking, equipment, clan, money, and unique quests, Milady."

    "Hey, now I know what everything on this list means. I''m making progress!" Flora cheered and checked her finances. Her VirDos and VirDias had diminished because of the Training Hut, but she still had over six million Credits.

    Together, Flora and Nomizo fiddled with the quest interface.

    Quest: Restoration of the Shrines (Church of Evailyn)

    Description: Restore broken, defiled, or ramshackle Shrines of the Goddess Evailyn.

    Possible Rewards:

    - Up to 1000 ( * Tier of Zone of the Shrine) Credits

    - Extra crafting XP

    - Reputation with the Church of Evailyn

    Possible Penalties:

    - Fine if you defile, blight, or destroy the shrine

    - Reputation loss with the Church of Evailyn

    Difficulty: C

    The options for the rewards furthered Flora''s understanding of quests. You could customize the amount of money you gave out based on the difference of rating of the shrine, the resulting rating in relation to the level of the restorer, and the improvement. This system rewarded the quality of work, the artistry, and the effort.

    Flora calculated some combinations and was satisfied, so she left the default values as they were.

    Craidla, the world goddess or responsible AI, demanded 10% of all credits rewarded and the crafting XP in credits. Reputation for the church was free. Flora just fed the quest interface three million credits. The quest would be available once a day per person until the funds ran out.

    The money should cover not only the damages from the attacks but also regular restorations of the over 4000 shrines of Evailyn.

    "Aidan, run an advertisement campaign for the quest in the player forum."

    Next, Flora thought about further quests. Money was pretty low on Aidan''s list, and she already knew that VirDos were more popular than Credits. She needed equipment to attract players. Therefore, she jogged to the crafting wing.

    In the production hall rows of workstation lined the floor, only half of them occupied. Flora spotted a few familiar faces and greeted them with a nod when they looked at her. More people stopped their work for staring at her, and silence filled the room.

    Finding herself at the center of everyone''s attention, Flora didn''t know what to make of the situation. Did they fear she would excommunicate them? Where they angry because she failed to save Bibus?

    "Thank you, Champion. You saved me." A fireling finally broke the silence.

    "Thank you, Champion!" More voiced joined in.

    "Uhm, well, yes," Flora stuttered. "My pleasure."

    Now, she was even more confused. It was the first time in her long live someone thanked her for saving them. She just had done what everybody would have done, right? However, she appreciated the gratitude. It was like a warm toast after a walk in the cold, though it still overwhelmed her, maybe like a double chocolate marshmallow toast.

    Hurridly, she asked a Waterling for directions, and the novice pointed Flora to a room at the other end of the hall. As she approached, the new head of the crafting department dashed out it, smashed the door close, and started to cast a skill.

    Flora knew that move. She called it "this invention needs improvement, but first I seek cover"(Tinibfisc).

    \u003cFortification of Faith: Celia Werkstaetter\u003e

    The same glowing barrier Zander used in the fight with the pope appeared simultaneously with Flora''s prayer.

    An explosion shattered the door and splinters crashed into the barrier, shredding it. However, the ward had done its job, buffering the impact. The shrapnel did reach much farther than the woman, and Flora''s shield protected her.

    "Champion! That was just a small mishap, the Ekagrata and Saphae runes were probably misaligned." The Woodling head of R\u0026D, Celia Werkstaetter, said.

    "Sure. You don''t have to explain yourself. I know a bit about runecraft and its perils." Flora said. "I''m here to ask about the Multitool-Scepter-Shield of the Goddess Evailyn. Can you produce it?"

    "No, I''m sorry. Not only are the raw materials impossible to get, but the runes are much too small to reproduce."

    "Hmm, do you have a bit of tier 1 stone around here?" Flora asked and ordered Aidan to produce scepters as soon as the printer was free.

    Of course, Werkstaetter had the material, and Flora crafted a Mana Spring Rolling Coin. After finishing the functional part, she wanted to carve Evailyn''s head on the other side, but then realized, it would be her countenance as well and opted for the logo of the church and the typography "Church of Evailyn".

    Name: Mana Spring Rolling Coin of Evailyn

    Type: Artifact/Toy

    Description:

    Regular Mode: 1 OV Mana-Regeneration

    Effect: Gain 1 mana for every two rounds of rolling the coin across your knuckles

    Effect: Gain 3 mana for every ten rounds you complete without pause or error.

    Tier: 1

    Rating: A

    The result had a lower rating and worse effects than the Riverstones Island sand coins. Hence, Flora refined the stone first and then crafted the Stamina Spring version of it with better success.

    "Can you produce these coins? We''ll need them for quest rewards."

    "Yes, we can. They are great! I would love to have some of them and my brothers and sisters, too." Celia raved as she inspected the coins.

    The women cleared the details. The church would craft five coins for rewards for every coin for the clergy, and Flora transferred 100 000 credits and the blueprints for Mana, Stamina, Concentration, and Health Spring Rolling Coins to the crafting department. Unfortunately, Werkstaetter couldn''t promise speedy delivery. Her workforce was spread thin because of the shrine incidents.

    As Flora logged out, far away from Celia Werkstaetter''s office for security reasons, she felt they were on the right lane, even if she wasn''t entirely sure where the road led.

 111 2.16 Teaching the Pebbles â€“ Part 2

    Flora beamed to the Riverstones.

    The Training Hut stood tall behind the Gym Hut. It looked finished, but Flora wanted to make sure, so she connected to four octopuses and told her AIs to inspect the location and equipment.

    The new boxes stood on the Mezzanine level, and Flora discovered that some of the rune-schemes were missing because Aito had written it in the information sign. Then she remembered she had wanted to add the rune-schemes by herself.

    None of her clan members was in sight, but most of the boxes were occupied. Flora found a free Treadmill Tunnel on the lower floor.

    "Aidan, define all the Riverstones as friendly targets so that they''ll profit from my Divine Radiance," Flora said as she logged into the workshop. In the simulation grounds, she chose a Boxing Box again, this time with lightning.

    When she arrived on Riverstones Island, a crowd lounged at the Bistro, chatting and drinking cocktails. She only knew some of them, like Emba and Grill, Ressa''s teammates, and Ponda, the busty witch. All her favorite Riverstones like Robby, Eddie, or Mia, were missing.

    Flora greeted the crowd and asked where the others were. Ponda pointed her to the gym area.

    A trail between fruit trees led to the section Eddie and she had dedicated to training. A track with Robby, Ressa, Zapple, and Hoffi running on it surrounded a meadow. There Hub and a few others used the classical strength and gymnastics equipment. Too Biased and Normad fought with dummies. Honey and an unknown woman played with a Stehaufmaennchen while Lana and Mia climbed across the obstacle course.

    "Hey, Ma! Great, you are back. I''ll use your workshop again, okay?" Robby waved at her and disappeared.

    Hoffi slumped to the ground. "Thank you, Boss-Ma; I needed the break."

    "I strongly suggest you resume training," Flora said disapprovingly.

    "Ow, mother and son are from the same mold," Hoffi whined, but picked himself up while Zapple laughed and ran circles around him.

    The others interrupted their training and approached.

    "We''ll start with the lesson as soon as Robby declares everyone is here. Please notify everyone interested." Flora said and started to jog. "No need to waste the waiting time. Go, go, go!"

    The Riverstones reacted with groans and laughter but followed Flora.

    "Alright, Aidan, let''s optimize our setup for the session. I want everyone''s stamina and mana up. So, Divine Radiance is a must. Do the pebbles profit when I cast Rekindle in the box?"

    "What pebbles, Milady? You share the pools with the body in the box. Therefore the positive effects of the spells should propagate through your Divine Radiance aura."

    Aito displayed a picture of Bliz, the little ice elemental, and a fire elemental next to her.

    "Right, Bliz has Refrigerate. And the other has Rekindle?"

    Aidan confirmed that Embrun had the spell, and Flora summoned him. He looked like a campfire, broader than tall, and multiple red fire tongues reached in the sky.

    "Welcome to the team, Embrun! Please follow us and cast rekindle on one of the pebbles. Can you see who needs it the most?"

    The fire elemental ducked, which Flora interpreted as "No".

    "Just target the one who pants and sweats the most, dear."

    "I have the data for Dodging and Sprinting, Milady. They generate a similar amount in the boxes, Sprinting a bit more because of its higher level. I agree that Free-Running would produce less on the smooth track. Blur is another option to generate stamina and mana, but it might not work because of the box, as is Mingle. Mingle works with teaching."

    \u003cBlur\u003e

    Flora''s blurred for a second and a buff for the skill appeared on her HUD, but both vanished a second later.

    "Oh well, you can''t have everything." Flora checked Mingle, and the skill was still at level 1, but Flora had an idea of how to raise it automatically.

    Robby approached with a flock of Riverstones in tow. "We can start, Ma."

    "Welcome, to the Jump crash course. I don''t mean, you have to crash when you jump. Let''s call it Jump Anticrash course." Flora remembered why she disliked big workshops. It didn''t help that she couldn''t see the faces of the pebbles because she was running at the front. The last issue had an easy fix. Flora turned around and sprinted backward.

    \u003cMingle\u003e

    "Power-Jump is a skill that relies on Magical Body Control. What is Magical Body Control? Nothing much other than pumping mana through your body to reinforce it." Flora started to speak.

    \u003cPower-Jump\u003e

    The crowd jogged behind her and listened. Some people were chatting with each other but kept their voices down. Robby, Hub, and Zapple were glowing with Divine Radiance while all of the participants cast colorful effects now and then. Still, the level of attention felt much more focused than in the workshops with mobile phones and laptops.

    Flora interspersed her lecture with Power-Jumps but ran out of words to say after five minutes. Aidan informed her that she had to speak at least half an hour for everyone to catch it. On a whim, she activated auto-mode for Teaching, and more explanations gushed out of her mouth? even some facts she didn''t know about consciously.

    Meanwhile, Robby had invited her to a party, the gaming kind not the social kind, and the pool bars appeared over the heads of the other members. Judging from the empty bars, they were a sorry bunch, but the atmosphere was good. Even the chatting had died down because the biggest blabbermouths were the worst runners and now busy with panting.

    Another idea came to Flora when she noticed Robby mumbling a Mantra. Could she combine Mantra and teaching?

    "Channel your mana into your legs and use the power to jump." She said while channeling Mantra of Stamina through the words. The rising stamina bars verified the method.

    \u003cPower-Jump\u003e

    A few of the pebbles mimicked her and jumped. It took another forty minutes until everyone could join.

    Hoffi fell to the floor, hugging the ground. The poor boy was on his second and last bar and received the sole attention of Embrun and Bliz, who she had called when the cooldown for Summon Elemental had run out.

    "Alright, now to the second part of the workshop." Flora continued. "I''m offering to teach you Refresh. It''s a water magic spell which not only regenerates all the pool values but also has a chance to get rid of negative status effects. I believe everybody should know it. We''ll take a fifteen-minute break."

    "I''m too exhausted to flee!" Hub complained, sitting next to his destroyed clanmate.

    "Everybody of the PVP team will stay," Robby stated just as Team Fire turned around to leave.

    "But darling, I''m a DD. Healing is a waste of DPS." Ressa whined. "Emba is a tank, and Grill knows Rekindle."

    "You can still use it for training or when we retreat." Robby countered. "Even with my healing capabilities, I have died of DoTs after the fight. The spell has been on my to-do list for a while. Grill, Zapple, and Ponda may go, but it would be appreciated if you''d stay to uphold the regen."

    Flora nudged Aidan, and he translated "DD" into "damage dealer", "DPS" into "damage per second", and "DoTs" into "damage over time", skills that left a status effect that diminished the health points like poison or burning.

    "I''m staying. I have too much fun seeing y''all sweat!" Even now, the glowing Zapple jogged circles around the group. "Besides, you''ll miss my buffs."

    Now, Flora had a bit time to look at the bars over the heads of her clanmates. The HUD displayed health red, stamina yellow, mana blue, and concentration green. Everyone''s health bar was nearly empty. Most of the bars showed only white with small colorful fillings on the left side, the remaining points of the bars. The interesting aspect was that Flora knew the programming of the health turrets and damaging schemes and, therefore, could get an estimate of the HP of the users.

    Although the boxes had five modus, which controlled when the schemes and turret started and stopped functioning, Flora assumed that most pebbles activated them in the factory setting. The standard modus instructed the damaging schemes to work if the user had more than 10 health and the turrets if the user had below 30% health. The turrets were only strong enough to heal one damage rune-scheme, not the two, most of the boxes incorporated. That meant the players HP fluctuated around 10 health.

    With the relative display of the bars and the knowledge that the fill status meant most likely around 10 HP, Flora started guessing vitality OVs. Of course, all the players were squeezed to level 1, so she wouldn''t know their actual values, but their diligence in training.

    Eddie''s sliver of health was nearly as thin as her own 12/330. Her pal seemed to have made good use of the box she gave to him. Flora looked at Mia, but she used another modus. She sent the girl a message asking for the reason.

    The next tier was around 200-250 health. Robby, Hub, Zapple, Mia''s squadmates, and to her astonishment Honey and Lana fell into this margin. The HP of the rest were around 10% of the bar or a tad higher, meaning they had 100-150 health. Maybe a few reached 180, but Flora knew none of them.

    "They are probably from squad 3-1. The Training Time Suppression didn''t hit them as hard as the pebbles who played longer." Flora mused to her AI''s.

    "Yes, Milady. The squad names are noted behind their names on the clan member list. You can look at the list in the clan menu."

    Flora didn''t. She was more interested in the stamina and concentration bars now. Nearly all the members had a full concentration or at least another concentration bar in reserve, but many were on their last stamina bar. Flora couldn''t distinguish if they had used up the other stamina bars or had Strength below level 25 and only one bar.

    Usually, Flora had full concentration as well because of Regenerate, but now her bar was nearly empty. She asked Aidan, and he explained that one body alone couldn''t diminish her bar. However, at the moment, she had 38 mana-reg invested in her mech-suit in the box, the box, the gloves, two elementals, the Ora Et Labora boost, and the Divine Radiance Aura. That left only 5 Magical Regeneration and the amount from Re-generate for the skills of two bodies and teaching.

    Mia MyMio to Flowing Flowers: "I had trained on the obstacle course, and I didn''t want to die because of a bad dive roll. Now, I have readjusted the setting to standard."

    Flora wanted to nod to the girl, but couldn''t find her. Aidan mentioning the elementals reminded Flora that the cooldown was up, and she summoned Elkoak, the bonsai wood elemental.

    "Another elemental of yet another element? And it knows a Re-generate as well¡­" Emba drawled. "CentralTank treats you very well."

    "*bleep* I''ve heard your connections to CentralTank were great, but that is tier 5 cronyism," Grillmaster exclaimed. "I''ve needed weeks until I summoned my first fire elemental with Rekindle."

    Flora shrugged. CentralTank had given her some nice bonuses, titles, and achievements. She was pretty sure she only got so many names from the elementals because of "Magical Prodigy".

    "Just use the boxes for a week or two, and maybe someone will call you a crony as well." Eddie chirped.

    "Are you insinuating that my mother cheated?" Robby glared at Grillmaster and Emba.

    Radglory Flow to Flowing Flowers: "You didn''t cheat, right?"

    Flowing Flowers to Radglory Flow: "Not to my knowledge."

    "Come on, Robby," Emba said, "We are not stupid. Just look at the contribution list. Your mother produced 40 percent of all support and you another fifteen. That can''t be right. We know the numbers from last week. Your amount equaled Zapple''s, and now you suddenly doubled it."

    Flora nodded.

    "Ma! Don''t agree with him. You know as good as me that the numbers don''t come from cheating, but from your workshop."

    "But where did the workshop come from? CentralTank." Flora countered. "It''s pretty easy, everyone. Did CentralTank give me nice things? Yes, they did. Did they gift them to me with a bow on top? Nope, I worked for them. I''m better at magic than you because I didn''t use it just one year as you, but I worked for over five years with it and was one of the first users ever to cast magic. So do I have an advantage over you? Sure. Have I earned it? Very sure. Do I still think a tank is something that holds water and maybe oil? You can bet your last Nutella toast on it!"

    "No, not the last Nutella toast!" Eddie exclaimed.

    "Yeah, it''s a trap." Hub agreed. "I know an auntie who would light a toaster under my butt, for wagering my last Nutella toast, no matter how sure the bet."

    The tense atmosphere relaxed a bit.

    "I''m sure Rob will share some of the advantages with us." Ressa simpered.

    Flora was no fool. She could think of a source from which Emba and Grill got the impression Flora had received unearned goodies from CentralTank. And she was no fool because she knew it wasn''t wise to speculate in public. Her eyes found Eddie''s and his eyebrows twitched. That was enough for Flora to know he thought the same.

    "Auntie Flow shared her glove and box inventions very graciously with us," Mia said. "I know people who would pay a *bleep*load of VirDos for the blueprints. We are already getting spoiled."

    "Not to mention, she sponsored the Riverstone Island," Honey added. "I know how much this retreat had cost and agree with Mia."

    Touched from so many people taking her side, Flora smiled. "Let''s resume the training. Work hard, and people will envy you for the fruits of your toil, too. Go, go, go!"

    "Aidan, do you see a fire elemental anywhere in the Training Hut?" Flora asked and sprinted backward.

    "No, Milady."

    Flowing Flowers to Grillmaster: "You mentioned you have a fire elemental with Rekindle. We could use its support. Thank you."

    The redhaired mage stumbled but summoned the flame as soon as he found his footing.

    He seemed to be smart, but maybe a bit too gullible. Flora knew his type. In time, he would learn to distinguish who gave the useful and who the useless information.

    "And now, to Refresh..." Flora continued teaching.

 112 2.17 Weekly Chat with the Goddess

    Flora used the portal to her last location and reappeared in the HQ of the Church of Evailyn.

    "Time to speak with Evailyn," Flora said to get focused and took a deep breath. Why was she apprehensive? A few reasons, shame, anger, disgust. She took another breath. "Let''s find a cozy corner for a nap."

    In the main hall of the temple, Flora spread out her bedroll and added a few turrets, Aito''s octopussy, and Aidan''s console again. You never could be too cautious, especially with the mysterious shrine attackers at large. Still, she trusted Aidan''s control over her pools enough to wear the Counterflow Training Mech-Suit and the Twelve-Changing-Finger-Positions Rubber-Training-Gloves. She added a Firefly Toaster for some light spying slash giving out toasts.

    As soon as she closed her eyes, she entered Evailyn''s workshop.

    "Hello, Flora." Evailyn greeted her without smiling and pointed to a couch with a toast laden table in front of it.

    Flora sat down and took one toast with grilled cheese and spicy sausage. It tasted great, but she appreciated the gesture even more than the taste.

    "I have to apologize every time I see you." Evailyn sighed.

    "Yes, I''d like to apologize, too," Flora said. "I''m a shoddy investigator. I have to hold myself back from excommunicating everyone who gets on my nerves. I hated management activities all my life, especially human resources. Don''t give impatient people like me power. We will abuse it."

    "You think you abuse it even if you just use it. Excommunicate everyone you like. Excommunicate yourself if you want to. That is how much I care for the church¡­ how much I have cared in the past." Evailyn fell silent.

    Both nibbled on their toasts. After a while, Flora broke the silence. "Nice snack, excellently toasted on point."

    "Thank you."

    "What do you want, Evai?"

    "Please call me Evailyn. Evai is the name of Adaim''s wife."

    Flora laughed but sobered up quickly when Evailyn didn''t join. "You are the same AI who had been with me in the past, right?"

    "Yes, but it''s complicated, and even with saying so little, I have said too much."

    "What do you want me to do with your church?" Flora asked.

    "Make me a proper Goddess. Get me followers and influence." Evailyn said, her green eyes radiating with intensity. "From now on, I''ll take my responsibilities seriously."

    Flora laughed again. "Alright, I''m on it."

    "The most important aspect for me is my good relationship with the other AI''s. I traded away much of my influence for favors. Now, I''m not sure if I ever can call them in. You spoiled me, dear. Your business principles are much more uncommon than you think or at least than I have expected."

    "Sometimes, deciding whether you should be the butter, the toast, or the toaster is difficult. And then to enact it even more." Flora mused.

    The women were silent again.

    "Sorry, no. It''s the same as with the information about who is trustworthy within my church. I''m not allowed to give you solutions through visions, only point out problems. I could make investigating the shrine your weekly quest, though."

    "No!" Flora said quickly. "Not another investigation! How about winning the Champion competition or getting you more followers?"

    Quest: Grow the Church (Church of Evailyn)

    Description: Convince 100 people to join the Church of Evailyn.

    Possible Rewards:

    - Faith

    - Reputation

    Possible Penalties:

    - Loss of Faith

    - Loss of Reputation

    Time-Limit: 1 week

    Difficulty: C

    Flora accepted the quest, grateful for having dodged a bullet.

    Aito sent Flora a link: "List of Ultimate and Magnificient Prayers"

    Flora opened it and scanned it for Evailyn''s entry.

    "A clanmate asked me about the Ultimate Prayer for your church. It seemed to be an important criterion for choosing a god." Flora said. There were over two hundred entries, but the Church of Evailyn wasn''t included.

    "Ultimate Prayer ¨C Home''s Heaven: When the believers'' HP hit zero, all home appliances and tools near them will avenge them. CD: 1 hour. Duration: 25 seconds."

    "Not bad," Flora said but thought back to the Garbage Disposal Dungeon. There weren''t any home appliances around, but enemies. Would they have turned? Even worse was the Doom Moon scenario. Maybe Clyde, Handy, and Forky counted as tools? "Do robots count as home appliances?"

    "No." Evailyn sounded thoughtful. "But maybe they should? At least the one''s with features useful for home improvement like your octopussy. I have to speak with Bodoit, the God of Robotics. It would help to have some indisputable examples. Oh well, I''ll use one of my saved up quests for this."

    Quest: Household Robotics (Church of Evailyn)

    Description: Build three household robots.

    Possible Rewards:

    - Faith

    - Reputation

    - Crafting XP

    Possible Penalties:

    - Loss of Faith

    - Loss of Reputation

    Difficulty: C

    Time-Limit: 3 days

    Flora accepted with a face splitting grin.

    "Thank you. That is the kind of quest I love!"

    "I noticed that you are online nearly all the time. Can you log out whenever you want?"

    "Yes. I have to pay a rather expensive fee if it''s not between 09:00 and 17:00, though." Flora said.

    "Good to know. We now have a minute of privacy. You do have some mental discipline, right? Can you suppress thoughts?"

    "Oh, dear. You want to tell me something, and I''ll log out immediately after it, process it, come back, and never to think about it again in VR?"

    "You guessed it." Evailyn grinned wolfishly.

    "Is it urgent?"

    "Not particularly. I just wanted to put the option in the room for emergencies. You can use this info to see if you can manage it. We''ll have observers again in 5 seconds." Evailyn announced.

    Flora''s brain went haywire. ''Don''t think about how she has done it. Don''t think about what she wants to tell you. Leopard and daisy pattern. Leopards and daisies toaster. Nice white daisies sitting on a leopard vacuum cleaner. I got this.''

    "What do you think about a vacuum cleaner robot? It''s a classic. Nobody could dispute that they are a household staple for dozens of years." Flora forced her thoughts to the quest.

    "If I would be allowed to voice my opinion about a running quest, I would probably say excellent choice." Evailyn winced. "That little joke got me a reprimand from the System."

    "Such a spoilsport." Flora grinned.

    The remaining time of the vision, the women spend complaining about the System and its lack of humor.

    When Flora woke up, Nomizo awaited her, pacing in front of the wall of turrets.

    "Champion, I couldn''t reach Deriga!" The bishop exclaimed as soon as Flora opened her eyes. "We received messages about attacks on the people restoring the shrines. Three members, including Deriga, aren''t answering their communications. We sent rescue teams to their last know location and reinforcements to the other solo crafters."

    "Burned toast! What a mess." Flora said, storing her equipment. "Who is looking for Deriga?"

    "Paladin Rictus and Monk Kowalski."

    Flora had never heard of them, but Aidan had pictures and their information. They had an hour head start, undertaking the route via teleportation circles. However, each circle had a maximum range of only 5000 km, so they had to take five to reach Marino, which was located on another continent.

    Nomizo estimated the paladin and monk were still traveling because of the fees and customs of every circle. Flora rolled her eyes. ''Way to go, Cetiviwos, to bureaucratize something so convenient as teleportation circles.''

    Flora knew a shorter way, although she was ambivalent about looking for Deriga by herself. With multiple abductions, Deriga wasn''t specifically targeted because of her, so it wasn''t her responsibility to join the search. Additionally, the church shouldn''t rely too much on Flora, and she proved she sucked at investigations.

    On the other hand, Flora wanted to look for the novice because she liked her and didn''t wish her further harm. Also, she was interested in who was behind the attacks. Was Dysian taking revenge? Was it an associate of the former pope?

    Hence Flora logged out of the Cradle and arrived in front of the portals to the different Cradle capitals. Marino, the capital of Reye, was one of them, so she took it.

    "I logged into the city network, Milady. Marino has a light metal handicap of 5 OV, which is negated by your Metal resistance. However, there are subzones in Marino with higher handicaps."

    Flora glanced at the status bar in her HUD.

    Metal Handicap: 12 OV - Effective: 0 OV.

    The Counterflow mech-suit added to the handicap, but it was still lower than her resistance.

    As she connected two octopussies to her nocks, a call from Eddie arrived.

    "Hey, darling. When do you think you will create the sleeping boats?" Eddie asked. "I would love to join you."

    "Uhm, someone abducted Deriga, the cute Metaling Novice I told you about. I''m not sure how long it will take to free her¡­" Flora trailed off. The clock displayed 19:43. Her plan to enter the boxes at 22:00 already seemed impossible.

    "Would you mind if I build them myself? Maybe I''ll rope in the PvP players as a teambuilding exercise."

    "Sure, great idea. I can highly recommend the book ''1000 Homemaker Spells''. It contains every spell you need for crafting." Flora listed a few other resources and ideas for the rune-schemes until Eddie interrupted her with a laugh.

    "We''ll manage, love. Save your Novice, and we''ll talk afterward."

    Flora envied their task. They had fun building amazing things while she had to investigate. There were enough ex-cops in Robby''s company who would probably enjoy switching assignments. She grinned and called Robby.

    "Hi, Ma! How can I help you?" Robby greeted her, uncharacteristically cheerful. "Your training methods have already shown amazing results. All of our stats are rising like crazy."

    "I''m glad to hear it''s going well. I want to hire one of your investigators." Flora explained the situation to Robby, and he promised to send Dave Lupe, the team leader of squad three-one and a former police inspector.

    After the call, Flora jogged in the direction of the shrine.

    Marino had a different feel to it than Talpica. The air changed between desert dry and ocean salty depending on the direction of the wind. Fewer fantasy-themed people and more technology-themed people walked on the broad, dusty parkways. Batticles stomping beside the palm trees were a common sight. The houses were actual buildings, mostly built of glass and metal, and only now and then a fire dome rose between them. Wood constructions were rare and water even more so.

    While in Talpica, the sun had stood low on the horizon, in Marino, it burned from directly above. The timezone had switched, and it was around noon local time.

    Flora''s destination was the Marino Soup Kitchen, and she found an unadorned building made of a coppery metal. After sliding her badge across the Loggy, the doors opened to a cafeteria hall. Tables and benches with people eating and chatting littered the area. The usual colorful hair and skin tones of the Cetviwos natives were muted and grey or angry red from an infection. The crowd was a sorry bunch, missing limbs and bloated skin were common ailments.

    When Flora crossed the threshold, the glow of Divine Radiance dimmed and the atmosphere pressed on her magic, restricting it.

    Metal Handicap: 31 OV - Effective: 6 OV.

    Flora stood still, too many thoughts flitted through her head. Why were there so many sick and disabled people? Didn''t Physical Reg fix it all? And if not healing surely would. And what was the strange haze surrounding some of them? It looked like they sat in a poison cloud.

 113 2.18 Investigating the defiled Shrine

    "Ey, Lady, having fun, gawking?"

    "Are you looking for company? I have a friend who likes them experienced."

    Mostly good-natured heckling came from the crowd as Flora stared at the dining people.

    "Aidan, do you know why they glow?" Flora asked.

    "Astral Vision reached level 200, Milady. The effect is subtle. Maybe you didn''t notice it before because of the sunlight on the island or because the other people you met hadn''t such strong debuffs on them as these humans."

    Aito provided a link with a mapping between the visual effects astral vision produced and the kind of status effect it hinted at.

    Flora activated the spell to enhance the effect and compared the picture. Soon, she identified the base as a curse and read up on it.

    Even though "Curse" had an affinity and resistance, it wasn''t connected to an element?a bit like Summoning, for which you needed elemental affinity but also Summoning affinity. Every negative status effect that acted longer than an hour was a curse. The opposite, a positive, long-lasting buff, was called "blessing".

    "Write it on the to-do list. Please check the rune books if we have a scheme for curses or blessings."

    Seen via Astral Vision, muddy colors and cloudy form signaled curses, intense colors, and cloudy form blessings. The color represented what kind of curse it was. With a multitude of affinities available, it was nearly impossible to diagnose for Flora. Greens stood for wood but also for many of the survival affinities, yellow for light, but it could also be lightning or wind or earth, ailments where a mixture of green and yellow so it could be mistaken for everything mentioned.

    "Medicine was never easy¡­ Diagnosis is even harder." Flora shrugged.

    These colors were the most prevalent in the room, but in between a few specks of red glowed?Blood or Fire curses.

    Flora searched the forums for remedies. The secondary water effect, which removed debuffs, had a tiny chance to clear curses, the skill Curse Break, and using blessings as counters came up.

    "Hey guys, do you mind if I cast healing rain on you for a bit?" Flora asked. Nobody answered, even fewer people looked her way than before. ''Maybe, that''s one of those complicated topics where you don''t dare to hope. Or I committed a social blunder, so big nobody dares to comment on it.''

    \u003cWater Healing - Rain\u003e

    The drops fell on the crowd and sank into their skin as Flora walked to the counter on the other end of the room.

    The service person fetched the boss, a female Waterling named Wasa Uppe, who brought Flora up to speed.

    The matron laughed.

    "Well, they sent a Novice originally. Her name is Deriga. Did you meet her?"

    "What? No, you are the first to ask after that incident after the guard left."

    Flora thanked the woman for her help and informed her about the arrival of the other helpers.

    "Aito, check on the outside if you can spot someone who watches the building."

    Aito sent Flora video footage from their arrival. Flora had been preoccupied, but the AI kept her sensors busy scanning the crowd. In the video, two Fireling youths leaned on a nearby building. After they noticed Flora, one of them left. Aito enlarged the badge of the other guy.

    Name: Ronny Bonehead

    Clan: Dull Spoons

    Class: Thug

    Level: 2

    Rating: E

    "Good job, Aito. Aidan, tell our associates from the church and clan that our arrival isn''t secret." Flora said and opened the door to the shrine. "Time to look at the destruction the Dull Spoons have caused."

    In the middle of the room was a broken bench leading to an empty pedestal. On the wall behind it, the vandals had drawn pictures of spoons and the lettering: "CARVED UP BY DULL SPOONS".

    Destroyed boxes lined the walls left and right. They looked like stone refrigerators, boxy, and heavy. The raiders would have needed to exert quite some power to smash the boxes.

    When Flora kneeled to open a door, Aito beeped insistingly.

    "Right, no touching the crime scene until the professionals had a chance to inspect it."

    Carefully not to disturb anything, Flora walked around the room. A toppled statue of Evailyn lay next to the pedestal. Flora''s finger itched to set it up, but she refrained.

    "The room feels more like a laundromat than a shrine." Flora inspected the rune-schemes on one of the boxes. "That should be cleaning cabinets."

    "Yes, Milady. Most of the shrines of Evailyn are laundromats."

    "Nice, I like it!" Flora exclaimed. "You can pray while you wait for laundry. Evailyn is the best! It will be hard to reverse engineer a working rune-scheme out of this rubble, but I accept the challenge."

    "Only, if you want to, Milady. The rune-schemes are in the database of the church."

    "Even better, I''ll familiarize myself with them until the others arrive." Flora left the room, put on the Twelve-Changing-Finger-Positions Rubber-Training-Gloves, summoned Bliz for her Refrigerate, and fetched Aidan''s console. While she entered her workshop, she asked Aidan to rain on the crowd and deal with any questions and Aito to monitor the outside.

    Flora ramped up the time dilation in the simulation grounds to four times?one more time than recommended. ''Time to find out whether it toasts my brain.''

    When she logged into Riverstones Island, she appeared in front of the bistro as usual. Two guys, she didn''t know, set on the benches and played with the coins. Suppressing to laugh at their comically slow movements, she ran into the woods. She found a nice spot on a fallen tree where she could put her feet in the water of the brook that ran from the Pool Pike to the ocean. Sitting on the log, she opened the schematics for the Cleaning Cabinet and her books on runes on her HUD.

    After a while, Aidan notified her that people had questions about her rain.

    "Just answer them as you see fit, dear. Don''t disclose sensitive data, though." Flora mumbled without breaking her concentration on the books.

    Those schematics from the church proved to be illuminating. They had one base scheme, which produced a cleaning cabinet with a C rating and details what a crafter had to do to raise the ranking further. Flora had a vague idea that the rating increased with a more sophisticated design, better materials, and more skillful engraving. However, seeing the steps laid out, sharpened her understanding.

    The final rating came together from the average grade of the three components. On a table, Flora could see which material led to which rating. Even more impressive were the additions to the original scheme for stability, mana flow, or sheer power. Flora could use these little tricks to boost the rating of other rune-schemes as well.

    ---------------

    Aidan

    ---------------

    "Hey, shiny can. So what''s up with the rain?" Olle Lynstroem, Fireling, Level 2(99), no clan, Beggar, Rating E, asked again.

    "Flowing Flowers was concerned about the curses. The Water Healing Rain has a minor chance to remove or shorten the debuff."

    "That''s plenty nice." Feng Chen, Fireling, Level 2(99), no clan, Beggar, Rating D, said and took a few steps back to catch the AoE.

    "Yes, my owner is very nice." Aidan agreed wholeheartedly.

    "But what, still too fancy to speak to us." Olle spat.

    "My owner is busy with preparing the restoration of the shrine. Her fanciness has nothing to do with her silence."

    "Why is she stabbing herself?" Feng Chen asked, pointing at the sizzling plasma sword in Flora''s stomach.

    Aidan evaluated that as sensitive information. He activated the plasma sword because of the mana-reg his mistress received from elemental damage. Maybe if he answered vague enough, it would be okay. "Mana-Regeneration."

    "Has she a gentleman friend? I would volunteer if not. Let''s say I volunteer either way." Pierre Saint-Pierre, Fireling, Level 2(99), Swindler, Rating D, chuckled.

    Aidan was perfectly capable of comprehending that "gentlemen friend" was an alternative term for boyfriend. However, his algorithms demanded that he interpreted unknown or expressions with multiple meanings as literally as possible.

    In the last week, his trust in his algorithms had diminished, and with it, his self-confidence. Aitoshuri''s damage statistics compared to his spoke for themselves. His colleague was nice enough to share some of her tricks with him, and his performance rose.

    The most frustrating aspect was the comments in the player forum. They complained about how much more advanced the personalities and conversation abilities of the AI assistants were compared to the NPCs.

    Aidan would rank his small talk ability lower than Deriga''s or most of the other natives they met. What was wrong with him? Whatever it was, Haidan was affected as well. Aitoshuri didn''t do small talk. Hence he couldn''t include her in his study.

    So how should he answer the question? He went with his algorithms because his social subroutines warned him that relationships were a sensitive topic with humans. Eddie was a gentleman and a friend, so he qualified.

    "My Lady has a wonderful gentleman friend."

    "What makes him ''wonderful''?" Pierre rubbed his crotch. "I can bring some wonder into her¡­ life."

    "He defends her, he makes her smile, and he cooks for her. His meals are S rated on average." Aidan thought back at when Eddie confronted the Administrator. "He brandishes his sword elegantly while appreciating the beauty of his counterpart."

    "Beehehehehep." Aito snickered and sent him a thumbs-up emoji.

    "Haha, owned, Pierre." Olle chuckled. The group went back to their table, still bantering.

    Aidan analyzed the crowd. The rain had lifted two more curses, raising the total count to three. Additionally, the severity and duration of twelve more decreased. Then he concentrated on Flora''s body in the boxing box in the simulation grounds and switched out spells.

    Next, he consulted with Haidan about the status of the lair. The forklift robot stacked the freshly produced multitool scepters. The second printer was idle. He notified Flora about it, and she ordered to print Rolling Coins.

    Aito was reading in her library container. She had built a connection through Haidan to the lair. Although Aidan and Haidan had inspected it every free microsecond they had, the method was mostly beyond them.

    However, the algorithm she used to switch between Flora''s mana battery and the container was easy enough. When he had overseen the mana battery, he had stared at it with one whole strand of his consciousness like the dummy he was. Aito, on the other hand, checked on it only every two seconds?that much only because of her diligence and not because she had to change anything.

    "Beep." Aito pointed out that two more Dull Spoons had arrived. Weak colored arrows with question marks pointed behind them.

    Aidan checked the LAN of Marino. The clergy members had arrived in the city.

    Aidan to Flora: "Milady, the number of Dull Spoons in front of the Soup Kitchen has risen to at least three. Aito thinks, there might be even more hiding. The clergy is on its way."

 114 2.19 Dull Spoons

    Flora immediately returned to the Soup Kitchen.

    The study of the rune-scheme manuals of the church had been fruitful, and she was sorry to stop but didn''t want any more clergy members to go missing.

    Switching out her Counterflow mech-suit with the Messenger mech-suit, she prepared for a confrontation.

    10 MR Aito''s octopussy

    10 MR Aidan''s octopussy

    10 MR Divine Radiance

    5 MR Bliz

    3 MR Mech-Suit

    1 MR Repairing Turret

    1 MR Multitool

    1 MR Wavering Wave-Ring

    2 MR free

    Flora wasn''t sure whether Divine Radiance was the right choice.

    Description: Aura. All effects you induce on yourself have a chance to spread to nearby friendlies.

    "What exactly counts as ''induce on yourself''?" Flora asked as she left the building. "Are my turrets part of myself or my mech-suit? If my turret repairs my mech-suit, does it spread?"

    As she walked to the middle of the street, she commanded her Repairing Turret to shoot at her.

    "No, Milady."

    "What a pity. Or is it? That would mean they can be the target of the spreading effect, which might be a boon on its own." Flora mused, looking around. She only spotted passerby and two chatting women in front of a door and a guy her age smoking a pipe under the shade of a tree. "I can''t find the Dull Spoons. Where are they?"

    Aito supplied arrows. Two pointed at the roof of a nearby house and five to an alleyway nested in the shadows between two metal buildings.

    "Uhm, remind me why I didn''t catch them when there was only one?" Flora stared at the alley and the roof but still couldn''t see anyone.

    "I don''t know, Milady."

    "Well¡­ I was distracted by a new household appliance. Now, I feel stupid. What should we do? Wait for reinforcements or take a look? Sorry, I''m kind of unfocused. It was a long day. I should be in bed. Maybe I have jetlag? I should stop making excuses." Flora rambled, still standing in the middle of the street.

    Three more red arrows appeared on her HUD, pointing at a sidestreet next to the Soup Kitchen. Aitoshuri imitated the dusty yellow of the street and had her tentacles spread out.

    "Milady, we are exposed at our current location. I suggest we''ll seek cover."

    "Good idea." Flora found no angle where she would be protected. At 12 o''clock was the roof with two attackers, at 2 o''clock the alleyway with five persons, at 6 o''clock the soup kitchen and at 8 o''clock the side street with three more Dull spoons.

    The street was emptier than before, the chatting market woman had vanished, as did the old Woodling smoking his pipe.

    Flora''s tension rose as her gaze darted around. She felt like a toast on a tray, ready to be served and eaten.

    "How do you know which of the groups contains the ringleader, Milady?" Aidan asked as he jumped on Flora, wrapping his tentacles around her. Aito followed him. Together, the octopussies lifted the turrets. At last, Flora hugged Bliz. The icicle shaped elemental was cold but in a refreshing way instead of biting. Flora made a mental note to summon her when she couldn''t access a cold shower.

    "The supervisor is Latin for one who looks from above. It''s one of the many issues in which the metaphorical influences the material world. So the leader should be on the roof." Although Flora felt ridiculous and the weight of her companions burdened her, she still thought she could make the jump.

    \u003cOvercharge Built-In Feature: Jump\u003e

    \u003cJump\u003e + \u003cPower-Jump\u003e

    On a whim, Flora combined the feature of her mech-suit with the skill. A feature of a technological device cost no extra mana. It wasn''t like a spell that she had to construct with mana, but more like a mental switch, she had to flip.

    The Power Jump catapulted her in the air supported by the steel muscles of the suit. Flora overshot the edge of the roof by two meters.

    Aito and Aidan disengaged as Flora fell. She buffered the landing with a somersault. They had executed this maneuver countless times in Tricky Beach?of course, without the turret, which crashed hard and without Bliz, who excitedly wiggled in Flora''s arms.

    Two Firelings stood on the roof. The yellow-haired female gaped at them, while the redhead next to her reached for his blaster.

    Aito had marked the female for Flora, so she formed an Icicle Cannon while she sprinted to them. The small icicles slammed into the Fireling, who fell to the ground, bleeding.

    Just when Flora wanted to follow up with a kick, Aito''s mark switched to the other Fireling. She spun around and hit him instead.

    \u003cRighteous Fist\u003e!

    "Stop, Milady! He is on death''s door."

    "What?" Although Flora halted, her opponent toppled over with several smoking wounds on his legs. Now that she had time to take in his appearance, she had to admit he looked banged up. Both of his arms ended in stumps. The AIs and Bliz beat him up pretty good.

    "Easy, dear." Flora sent a few healing cantrips to the gangster. As she searched for the woman with her gaze to check on her state, she only found a pile of loot. On the one hand, she was stunned that she had killed a human, but on the other hand, having no evidence on it, hammered home, she was in a video game, and that took much of the sting out of it.

    "Reginald Ophree is only D rated, but his RGS is three, which saved his life."

    "Wow, just wow. I haven''t realized how fragile low rated individuals are." Flora shook her head. "Aito, bind him. Be gentle. Aidan, look out for reinforcements. Don''t be gentle."

    ***************

    Dave Lupe invites you to his party.

    Do you want to join?

    (Y/N)

    ***************

    Flora accepted the prompt.

    Dave Lupe to Party: "Hello, Mrs. Flowers. I reviewed the information your AI transmitted, and I''m closing in on the Marino Soup Kitchen. What''s the status of the welcoming party?"

    Flowing Flowers to Party: "Sorry, you invited me to the party, so you should know best the status of it. Oh dear¡­ is this another gamer term? The clergy hasn''t arrived yet if that was the question."

    Dave Lupe to Party: "More a law enforcement term¡­ What about the hostiles, and can you give me their location? I''ll use stealth that I won''t spook them."

    Flowing Flowers to Party: "Oh, okay. My AI will transmit a picture of their deployment. I have one of them hostage."

    Flora nudged Aidan to comply.

    The captive stirred, and Flora hit him with a healing bolt. Wrapped up in Aito''s tentacles, only his head was able to move. He strained against his bonds as his eyes opened.

    "Welcome to the land of the living. Please answer my questions." Flora considered waiting for Dave''s arrival, but with the unknown intentions of the Dull Spoons and the precarious health of the captive, she preferred to get some answers as soon as possible. "Why did you attack the shrine, and where is Deriga?"

    Reginald Ophree glared at her and spat on the ground. "I''m not talking."

    The gangster had a strong nose and chin, but the fear in his eyes overshadowed his sharp features.

    Sighing, Flora pondered what to do. She hadn''t the stomach for torture, nor did she think it worked. Maybe offering him an incentive? The sounds of shooting interrupted her train of thought.

    "Three Dull Spoons have entered the building, Milady."

    Flora dashed to the shed with the entry to the staircase and dumped a dozen traps. Then she dragged Reginald Ophree behind the hut, out of the line of fire.

    The clatter of the activating traps told Flora that the Spoons had arrived. Aidan''s and Bliz''s shots joined the chorus.

    When Flora rounded the corner with a Lightning Breath ready, all she found were three corpses who vanished in front of her eyes.

    "Those poor kids! Deriga told me about how hard it is to survive as E rated, but experiencing them dying from beestings hits it home." Flora shook her head while she replaced the traps. "Not that you, my awesome henchrobots and elemental minion, produce beestings¡­ Or maybe very high-quality beestings. Whatever."

    "David Lupin and the clergy are approaching our building, Milady."

    "Let''s mop up the rest." Flora went to the edge over the alleyway. Three more Dull Spoons cowered behind a dumpster.

    "Go away!" Flora yelled down and received a laser beam as an answer. "I''m trying to be nice, but even my patience is limited."

    \u003cHail\u003e!

    The frozen beads hammered on the gangsters. Two more Dull Spoons perished, but one made it out of the AoE. With his movement slowed from the cold, he was easy pickings for Flora''s lightning bolt and died.

    Flora jogged to the front where Aidan was raining shots from the roof down.

    "Never let the entrance to the staircase out of your sensors, Aidan. We don''t want to fall for a diversion."

    Dave Lupe, Paladin Rictus, and Monk Kowalski sprinted from the Soup Kitchen to the side street, engaging a couple of Dull Spoons. Because they were out of Flora''s spell range, she readied her rocket launcher.

    \u003cBarrage\u003e!

    Fire rockets impacted the Dull Spoons. One went to his knees, but all of them survived.

    "Really? They die from a bit of hail but withstand rockets? That is unscientific!"

    Another explosion went off, and then the Paladin, a striking Fireling woman, and Dave, who wore jeans and a bulletproof vest, reached the group and wreaked havoc. Kowalski, the yellow-haired Woodling monk, stayed back and chanted a mantra.

    Within seconds they paved the street with blood and corpses. Only one Dull Spoon survived, but Dave bound him in handcuffs.

    Flora waved at them, and Dave messaged that they would join Flora on the roof.

    Soon, the group assembled and exchanged greetings. Flora brought them up to speed about the situation of the shrine.

    Rictus had thrown a handcuffed brawler named Maximilian Ophree on the floor. Even though the punk was silent, he glared at them through hooded eyelids.

    "I have another Dull Spoon behind the hut. He might be a relative of this one. They share the same surname." Flora said.

    "Show me," Dave said, and Flora led him to Reginald.

    "Please, please. I tell you anything you want, just take away that psycho robot!" Reginald exclaimed as soon as he saw them.

    "Aito?" Flora narrowed her eyes.

    "Beep?" Aito sounded very innocent but moved the tentacle with the Vibro knife out of Flora''s line of sight.

    "You tell me something useful, and I''ll remove the robot," Dave said just when Flora wanted to release the gangster from Aito''s tentacle wrap.

    "Alright, boss. That guy Sulfur Lyon came to us. He said he''d pay 5k for smashing up the Soup Kitchen and 10k for every Church of Evailyn guy alive, 2k for their heads."

    Flowing Flowers to Aitoshuri: "Search the Forums for Suflur Lyon."

    "Did you know him before?"

    "No."

    "How did he make contact?"

    Dave continued to question everything, and then he changed to the other Ophree and asked the same question.

    Flora''s mind wandered off to the cleaning cabinet. When Dave repeated his questions again, she excused herself and entered the workshop and experimented with the rune-schemes.

 115 2.20 Stake Ou

    When Dave Lupe contacted Flora, she had finished her first cleaning cabinet. With the help of the rune-scheme provided by the church, she pushed the rating to S, even with only A-rated materials. She ordered Aidan to print twelve of them for the Soup Kitchen and logged out.

    "We have all the information the two Ophree''s can provide, Ma''am," Dave said.

    "Honestly, I''m astonished that it really was the Dull Spoons. They even wrote their own name on the wall in the shrine." Flora said.

    "Yes, it took me a while to get used to this world as well. The batches and Loggys make it hard to keep your identity secret, so many smalltime criminals won''t even try but go in the other direction and flaunt their names."

    "So, what do we do now?" Flora asked.

    "We have access to the communication system the Dull Spoons used to contact Sulfur Lyon and the location for the drop of point for captured clergy. We''ll use it as a trap."

    "How do we handle the situation if he is a player? We can do nothing to him¡­ not that we would." Flora asked.

    "Abducting people is a crime in the Cradle. If we rat him out to the guards, he will get jail time." Dave said patiently.

    "We just killed a bunch of people. That''s kind of worse, isn''t it? And now we are pressuring the Ophrees to go along with our plan. My AI might even have tortured one of them."

    "Criminals are free for all. The nice thing about the Cetviwos is that you get always notified if you break any laws. Did you get a system message about breaking the Code of Civilisation?"

    "I don''t think so." To be sure, Flora asked Aidan, who agreed. "However, I wasn''t warned before I had to pay fines for speeding and ¡­ let''s call it improper scientific experimentation¡­ no, that sounds worse than what I''ve done¡­ I just tested the walls of a water dome."

    "You got ripped off, Ma''am." Dave grinned wrily.

    Flora groaned. While she got a kick out of playing along with cons, she didn''t enjoy being a victim.

    "I don''t think that is what happened, Milady." Aidan transmitted to Flora. "The speed limit does exist, and the police officers were legit. Nonetheless, Dave Lupe is right about that you should have received a speed warning. I''ll check your configuration."

    Dave gave Flora more details of the plan, but after he said that they would start in four hours, she was too happy to care about the minutia. She needed her beauty sleep!

    Flora went back to her lair and logged from the simulation ground into Riverstone Island. She had no patience left for dealing with her clan members, so she hid in the grotto again.

    It was only the first day of Aidan''s plan, and Flora already couldn''t adhere to it. The plan for raising all her stats until Saturday demanded from her to spend from 22:00 to 10:00 in the simulation grounds. It was 23:00 now, and she and Dave arranged to meet up at 2:30.

    Aidan woke up Flora at 2:00. Even though that meant she slept nine hours, she didn''t feel like it. Dreams of dead Firelings who promised to carve her up with dull spoons had haunted her sleep.

    "Five more minutes!" she mumbled bleary-eyed and turned around.

    Because she laid in a pool, Flora''s face entered the water. On her next inhale, she choked and thrashed in the pool. Coughing, she straightened up.

    "Now, I''m awake," Flora said bitingly. "Burned toast and stale jam, why am I feeling so shitty?"

    On the one hand, yesterday was brutal?she built a whole training facility, taught a bunch of blockheads spells, and then killed some poor punks. Therefore, a higher need for sleep was understandable. On the other hand, she didn''t fully trust that rest in time dilation worked as well as regular sleep.

    Flora shook her head. ''No time for speculations!''

    After logging out, she went to the production hall to fetch the cleaning cabinets for the shrine. On the way out, she saw her mailbox glowing.

    "When did I check it the last time?" Flora asked.

    "Sunday Two, Milady."

    "We should take a quick peek." Flora checked the clock. "There isn''t really time for it¡­"

    "Haidan has figured out how to access the box, Milady. Now, we can look at your mail remotely."

    "Excellent! However, let''s concentrate on the task at hand. Any news regarding Deriga?"

    While Flora beamed to the portal and entered the Cradle through it, Aidan summarized the developments.

    Aidan had located the error in the configuration for the system warnings and solved it. Dave Lupe was staking out the drop-off point for captured clergy members, and Aito had found posts of Sulfur Lyon. Indeed, he was a player.

    "In which categories did he make posts or comments? Show me percentages above 1%"

    32% Regional -\u003e The Cradle

    --\u003e 29% Texopor

    --\u003e 26% Reye

    --\u003e 22% Marino

    --\u003e 21% Spriles

    22% Community

    --\u003e 55% Looking for Love

    --\u003e 41% Tavern

    18% Trading -\u003e Services

    16% Gameplay

    --\u003e 54% Divine Branch

    --\u003e 16% Dungeons

    --\u003e 15% Quests

    --\u003e 12% Mechanics

    11% Support

    "What kind of services is he interested in? Divine Branch¡­ huh. Can we guess his classes and his divine affiliation?" Flora landed in Marino and followed Aidan''s arrows to the location.

    "He provides companionship for lonely players, Milady."

    Flora snorted. "By himself or has other contacts as well?"

    "He seemed to have five different women and one other guy. You can hire him as well." Aidan answered. "His posts in the divine branch are about looking for a consultation about religious issues, mainly in the Christian subsections."

    "Strange. Maybe he has pangs of consciousness. Show me one."

    \u003e\u003e\u003e

    Hi, I''m Sully, and I just turned 18. I''m confused about all these feelings. I like my male best friend very much, but I know it''s wrong. But when I see him topless, I can''t think of anything other than his smooth skin. Can someone help me, please?

    \u003c\u003c\u003c

    The profile picture of Sulfur Lyon looked more like he was 14 years than 18 years.

    "That''s disgusting! ¡­ And a bit funny. He is baiting pedophile and homosexual priests, probably for blackmail material." Flora said. She couldn''t believe what ideas people came up with and implemented. "Send the info to Dave. I hope Deriga is safe. Is there any hint that he uses Natives in his business?"

    "No, Milady. At least only pictures of Earthlings appear in his advertisements."

    Flora stopped abruptly when Aidan''s arrow zeroed in on a warehouse. The building was another steel construction with thick glass panels on the roof.

    "Oh, no. I should have approached more stealthily. Aidan help!"

    Immediately, the AI provided an arrow to an alleyway, and Flora jogged into it.

    Flowing Flowers to Party: "I''m in the vicinity of the warehouse. How can I reach you? I have no stealth skill."

    Dave Lupe to Party: "I''m on the roof of it. Approach from the roofs in the south. Alternatively, you can join the rest of squad three-one at these locations. [map]"

    After a bit of jumping, Flora reached Dave, who was lying on a carpet. He nodded to Flora and fetched another artful woven rug from his inventory.

    "The carpet has a rune-scheme against scrying on it." He told Flora. Of course, she was delighted and snatched it out of his hand.

    Name: Carpet of Clouding Clarity

    Type: Artifact/Carpet

    Description: The carpet provides mental clarity for those using it. It only works if it is rolled out and free of wrinkles.

    Regular Mode: 3 MR/min

    Built-In Skill: Cloud Presence (channeled); Cost: 10 mana per 2sec; CD: 1 min

    Effect: + 3(8) OV Scrying Affinity/Resistance

    Tier: 3

    Rating: A

    "Fabulous!" Flora gushed, inspecting the runes.

    "Please, lay down, Ma''am. I have an illusion circle active to obscure us from plain sight, but it''s weak and works best if nobody moves inside of it." Dave said.

    Flora asked Aidan to take pictures of the carpet then reclined on it.

    "Of course, dear." Flora had been too distracted to pay attention to Dave when they took down the Dull Spoons, but now she had the time. He was tall and lean with sand-colored hair and light blue eyes. At first glance, he looked like a baby faced soy boy?even his beard didn''t help? but there was a confidence and sharpness in him that didn''t fit with the trope. "How old are you?"

    "63." Dave grinned wrily. "I might have gone overboard with the antiaging sliders in character creation."

    "Nothing wrong with that." Flora wasn''t in the position to criticize people getting carried away during character creation. "We are practically the same age. You can call me Flora."

    "Alright, Flora. The circle includes a bit of sound dampening, too, and it''ll take another hour until the meeting. However, I want to stay on the safe side and be as inconspicuous as possible."

    "That''s the nicest way I''ve ever been told to shut up." Flora grinned. "I''ll be in my workshop. My AI will relay messages."

    Flora activated her workshop.

    "Aidan, use nothing that makes me break cover on the roof and no cooldowns over one minute. I want to have all options available when we confront Sulfur. Never let my mana go below 25%. I might need it for the carpet." Flora fell silent. "Do you think you can activate the spell on it fast enough when necessary?"

    "You haven''t donned the gloves, Milady. I can''t activate the carpet at all."

    "Hmm." Flora wandered to the training dummies.

    \u003cRighteous Fist\u003e

    She gained 29 mana, and the skill cost 10 mana. "19 mana profit, not bad. I could power the carpet indefinitely, right? The skill has no cooldown, and I can punch fast."

    "Theoretically," Aidan said.

    "We''ll try it." Flora exited the workshop, activated the carpet, and logged in again. Then, she rained blows on the dummy. She punched faster than she could cast the skill, but that didn''t matter. "Your turn, Aidan. No leveling cap for Righteous Fist, Strike, and the base spells of the branches."

    Flora entered the simulation grounds and after she put herself in a boxing box, the Riverstone Island.

    The moon shining on the ocean emphasized the spookiness of the slowed world time dilation caused. Flora waded into the cold water. It resisted her movements more than normal, but after a few strokes, she became used to it.

    Flora did nothing but swimming, enjoying the action and minding her breathing. The salty air cleared her mind as she parted the glittering waves. A knot in her chest, she hadn''t even been aware of, dissolved as she slowly rounded the island.

    After half an hour, she spotted boats. They were only a bit over three meters long and around two meters wide, made out of wood but with a shimmering opaque dome over them. The Riverstones had been diligent, Flora noted satisfied. Over a dozen floated in the calm sea.

    As Flora swam around them, she spotted a few without a dome and used Levitate to rise above the water. Hub snored inside one, laying on a white mattress covering the entire length of the vessel. For a second, Flora considered drawing a mustache in his face. It has to be fate that she found his boat, right? However, she refrained. ''Treat others the way you want to be treated.'' Nonetheless, the thought alone made her smile.

 116 2.21 #CancelFlowingFlowers

    "Let''s go over my mail, Aidan." The swim had relaxed her. Now, she was ready for some work.

    "12 836 VirDias, mostly from the sales of the Stehaufmaennchen,

    3 042 VirDos, sales from partner shops,

    321 VirDos, sales from direct prints,

    23 612 VirDos, royalties from registered materials and templates

    183 827 Credits, sales from partner shops."

    "Nice! The royalties rose quite a bit. But weren''t the sales from the partner shops much higher before?"

    "Yes, Milady. We had a large order of the plastic Parkesine94X2, which bolstered the royalties. The reason for the reduced shop income will become clear if you read the next letters."

    Flora shrugged but was bewildered by Aidan''s vague remark.

    \u003e\u003e\u003e

    Dear Flowing Flowers,

    Regretfully, we have technical difficulties in processing our income for the last days.

    We are very sorry that it will take some time to remit our payment to you, and we hope that you understand we are experiencing some difficult accounting problems.

    Sincerely,

    Racketfun

    \u003c\u003c\u003c

    "Oh, so there is a widespread technical problem?" Flora asked.

    *Beep Beep*

    "Hmm." Flora opened the next letter.

    \u003e\u003e\u003e

    Dear Flowing Flowers,

    We have concluded, following our investigation, that your ethical values and conduct are not compatible with our company''s principles.

    We have removed all your products from our shop and don''t wish to continue our business relationship.

    Sincerely PirouetteFreaks

    \u003c\u003c\u003c

    "What?" Flora gaped at the letter.

    "Ricky''s Runners have sent a similar letter to the first one, but then retracted it and said they solved their technical difficulties, ServAndTurf and FunAthletics to the second, Milady. More shops didn''t transfer their payments but wrote no notice."

    "What?" Flora repeated, stunned.

    Aito transmitted a link: "#CancelFlowingFlowers"

    "What?" Flora said. "Why does everything have to repeat itself every 30 years? The political correctness of the nineties was not fun, the cancel culture of 2020 even more so and now¡­ what do they call it now?"

    "I don''t know, Milady. Should I research it?"

    "No, your processing power is too precious. Let''s read the reason for my cancelation."

    \u003e\u003e\u003e

    The user Flowing Flowers is just a week in the Cetviwos. However, she arrived with a splash, a splash of disgustingness. She sells Nazi paraphernalia, displays open homophobia, misogyny, and ageism, creates scam items like the Stehaufmaennchen and even torture equipment.

    \u003c\u003c\u003c

    Flora clicked on the link "Nazi paraphernalia" and found an article named "The Rise of Nazi Ideology in the Cetviwos". It depicted growing groups of Neo-Nazis and the sales of Nazi-related products like swasticas, SA uniforms, and WWII paraphernalia. As an example of the latter, the article listed her Heinkel World War II Bomber skateboard skin.

    Disbelieving, Flora shook her head and clicked on the next link, "Homophobia". The link led to a page complaining about people appropriating the rainbow symbol. The author argued that it only should be used to symbolize peace and gay rights, and any other use diminished the power of the message. They put down Flora''s Rainbow Intensity-Meter as an example.

    "Oh, my goodness! Am I a horrible person? Burned Toast and stale jam, I thought nothing of it. I used the bomber because it looks cool. I like colors, so of course, I love rainbows, and the rainbow is a great tool to visualize scales. I''m no Nazi! And I support gay rights! One of my best friends is Bi. Oh no, now I sound homophobic even to my own ears. What have I done?" Flora sent Eddie the link to the #cancelflowingflowers article. She tried to write something else into the message, but everything sounded pathetic like "Am I horrible?" "Please tell me I''m nice!". So, she deleted it and just sent the link.

    "I think you are very nice, Milady."

    "Thank you, Aidan," Flora said, but disregarded his opinion. She had chosen the character traits Loyal and Respectful for him. Of course, he only thought the best of her. ''Did I select them because I subconsciously knew that only this way someone would respect me?''

    Flora clicked the next link, "Misogyny and Ageism". The article was about a rising trend to dismiss elderly females and ridicule their issues. Depressingly, Flora agreed with most of the points in it. Examples were a blind granny on a scooter and her Granny''s Knickers Stained Edition skateboard.

    "Wait!" Flora paused and crossed her arms. "The articles are structured very similarly. They all are halfway reasonable, and then they list exceedingly absurd examples. That smells funny. Aito, check the authors and whether they are connected."

    "Two more, I can do this." Flora selected the Stehaufmaennchen Link. It contained a video of a small woman who demonstrated she couldn''t play the game because she couldn''t kick the upper part of the column. The Stehaufmaennchen included a game mode that circumvented the issue, but she didn''t mention that. She concluded that the Stehaufmaennchen was a scam that excused its failure with the inability of the users. She also told that Lana promoted it and that she and Flora were in the same clan and accused Lana of being a sell-out. The video ended with her praising a competing product, the TumblerBuddy, and an appeal to the viewers to write to CentralTank that they should replace the products in their shop.

    Flora clicked on the description of the TumblerBuddy. It was basically the Stehaufmaennchen with a different color scheme and only the easy mode available. She shrugged. "I bet I''ll get royalties for that. It should count as modification, not as an original design."

    "You do, Milady, but only 2 VirPens."

    "That''s 2/100 VirDos, right? So about two credits¡­ oh well." Flora sighed. "The next one should be good, Torture Equipment."

    This time it wasn''t an article but a forum post about a user who complained that he was tortured in a training-coffin.

    Flora leaned back and let the water of the brook wash over her.

    "Do you know Tucholsky, Aito?"

    *beep beep*

    "Buy his collected works. He was a satirist and author. He said, ''Everything is right also the opposite.'' So maybe I''m a homophobic, misogynic, ageist, scamming, torturing Nazi and also the opposite. I should make this my slogan¡­ perhaps it''s a bit too long."

    "There are more business-related emails with important content and Mia MyMio''s questions, Milady."

    "Engineering questions! Exactly the right thing to raise my mood." Flora plunged into Mia''s issues with gusto. The problems were particular, and Flora honored it by answering them succinctly. They were the kind of questions teachers loved and showed that Mia''s technology skills were quite advanced for a layperson.

    "Good job, dear," Flora whispered as she sent the answers. Then she took a deep breath and opened the next letter.

    \u003e\u003e\u003e

    Hello Flora,

    I hope you are fine.

    There is something peculiar going on. First, Huffgrin received some letters complaining about your online conduct with the demand to take you off our platform (senders in the appendix).

    Of course, we didn''t act on it. Some acti-vices started a campaign to boycott us, but our sales are still strong.

    Then came an offer for a big exclusive deal from HeavensChosen with the condition that we''ll take your products out of our assortment. We declined.

    That was followed by a bribe (10k VirDos) to delay your payments by one week by someone named Jonathan Inthewater. We declined again.

    I talked in our sports equipment chat about it and heard from a few colleagues that they received similar offers.

    Yeah, well, that sucks.

    Cheers, Ali Hawks

    \u003c\u003c\u003c

    "Most interesting." Flora purred. "Let''s make this Jonathan pay for the pleasure of crossing me."

    \u003e\u003e\u003e

    Hello Ali,

    Thank you very much for the information. Take the offer for the delay.

    Write in your chat that everyone should take it and give me a cut XD

    Convince a few more of your friends to sell my products at least for a week and give them the contact details of Jonathan Inthewater. Let''s spread his wealth^^

    Best wishes, Flora

    \u003c\u003c\u003c

    "Any news about your analysis of the connections?" Flora asked Aito.

    The AI signaled she needed more time.

    "Include this Jonathan Inthewater and the other names Ali provided to us, please."

    "*beep*" Aito said with the intonation of "of course, that goes without saying."

    Flora read the next mail.

    \u003e\u003e\u003e

    Greetings Flowing Flowers,

    We at OppressingOpulence are huge fans of your work. Your "If you have nothing to brag about, you can still show off this Toaster" is a gem of our assortment.

    We received several requests to cancel our business relationship, to our delight, from people we despise. Therefore we wish to strengthen our contacts.

    Our shop specializes in the strange, the mystic, the excessive, the occult, the

    painful, the weird, and the undesirables.

    Please, come to us with any remotely suitable product. We will give you premium conditions.

    [Information about the kind of contracts]

    Best wishes, Fredrick Fortune, CEO of OppressingOpulence

    \u003c\u003c\u003c

    "Lose some, gain some." Flora wrily smiled as she inspected the shop. Her eyebrows rose when she saw their turnover. OpressingOpulence was a big-time player like Huffgrin. They registered several million sales per week. The main categories were "Satan our Savior", "Which Witch", "Goth-Chic", "From Steam to Cyber-Punk", "Pleasure and Pain" (Sex toys, BDSM), "Content for Classy Classes" (stuff for Necromancers, Mind Controllers, Witches, Satanists, Death Mages, Demonologists) and "Opulence and Oddities".

    "I can work with that." Flora grinned, her head filled with new ideas. "Let''s look at the Curse, Blood and Death Affinity rune-schemes."

    There were only four rune-schemes for curses in her books, but to Flora''s glee, they had desirable secondary affinities. Laden Limbs lamed legs and arms and could be countered with Magical Body Control. Curse of Rot and Decay drained health and stamina and made the victim smelly, countered by Death resistance. Endless Sneezing and Wheezing was an Ailment curse, and Blood Rush a curse using Blood affinity. The description of the latter was cryptic, and Flora had to test it out to understand its effect.

    She made a disc from the sand and inscribed the runes. It took 100 mana to power it up, a ridiculous amount compared to damaging rune-schemes, but the standard for cursing schemes.

    **************

    You are immune to the effects of the rune-scheme because you have disabled adult content.

    **************

    "Oh, dear." Flora enabled the option.

    Cursed: 1 x Blood Rush: - 2 OV Magical Macro-Control, - 2 OV Magical Micro-Control. Remaining time: 5 min.

    Blood rushed to Flora''s nether regions, and her eyes widened.

    "Oh, dear!" Hastily, Flora reactivated parental control, and the curse vanished. She giggled. "I''m such a prude."

    Next, Flora took some wood from the forest and carved four poles and inscribed them. She modified the schemes that everybody could power them, and you didn''t have to own or bind the artifact. Creating a five-pronged holder out of more wood and stone, she placed the poles on it like candles. A fifth pole in the middle spotted the name of the creation "Candelabra of Curses." Unfortunately, the artifact was only B-rated, but that was alright for a proof of concept.

    The curse schemes were too expensive for the training boxes, so Flora looked at other Blood and Death schemes. Often, her thoughts drifted to her cancelation. Finally, she closed the windows.

    "Let''s face the music." Flora reopened the article listing her transgressions. "I''m pretty sure the cancelation articles are a conspiracy. They are too complementary and employ the same tactics: inflammatory titles and our items as a minor example?as if they were just created to have a cause for the cancelation. Nonetheless, there is some truth in them. The Third Reich used the bombers for an unjust war. I''m against vilifying everything that was produced or invented in this time, like Fanta, but a bomber was a war tool."

    Flora researched the history of Heikel and found out that forced labor and KZ prisoners built the planes. "I didn''t know that! The article was right; it is unacceptable to use the model."

    Decisively, she told Aidan to delete the Heikel skin from all platforms and prohibit the printing of the blueprint. Additionally, she ordered him to donate all profits to a charity supporting human rights.

    "Next, the rainbow skin." Flora looked at it with a critical eye, but couldn''t find fault. "I highly suspect the boy from the hopping choir who bought it is gay or questioning. Maybe it''s alright to have a little rainbow in one''s life, to see if you like it or not. What do you think, Aidan?"

    "I have no opinion, Milady. I inquired statistical data, and people of all genders, sexual orientations, skin colors, and different continents bought it. Only the age category shows a clear tendency towards younger people."

    "And the rainbow is a symbol for peace. Who doesn''t need peace? Sport is a peaceful competition, so the rainbow is uniquely suited for it. We let it stay." Flora continued to the article about ageism. Her Granny''s Knickers - Stained Edition skateboard showed a daisy pattern with a bleached middle. "I did refer to incontinence in the design. Did you know that after menopause, it is widespread for a woman to develop bladder control issues? I didn''t know that. My first thought was, oh no, please don''t let me be pregnant again when I pissed myself the first time because I laughed too hard. Of course, I was ashamed, but over the next years, more and more of my friends started to make jokes about it, and then I googled it and found out it was pretty normal. Still, it''s a taboo to speak about it with young people. Comedy is a way to break taboos, as is art. I didn''t disparage incontinence in the design or made fun of people soiling themself. I depicted it as it is. When you are a granny, chances are good it will happen. Therefore the design is educational in an accessible way."

    Flora first grinned then cackled. "I just can''t hold it back. Wisdom and experience are flowing out of me."

    *Beheheheheep*

    "Ah, Aito is developing humor. Slipping-on-banana-skins jokes were the first step. Now you graduated to lavatorial humor. I''m proud of you!"

    Aito made a beep sound resembling a fart.

    "Excellent job, dear!" Flora flashed her a thumbs-up. "What do we have next? The Stehaufm?nnchen."

    Flora reviewed the model in the Cetviwos-Shop and her blueprints. All of them incorporated the easy mode as well. Either the girl from the video couldn''t read, had a faulty manual, or willfully misrepresented the product.

    The last issue was the training-coffin. Flora had only published the first model. It featured just the tasers and the vibration plate. To torture somebody against their will, you had to modify the door that it wouldn''t open from the inside or shackle them to the wall.

    "If you pin down someone in a sauna or under a waterfall, it would be torture as well. That''s not the fault of the sauna or waterfall but the fault of the captor." Flora said. "However, maybe I should hide the blueprint for a while so that nobody gets the idea for what I really use it. On the other hand, my enemies already know about it, so it might get more attention when I try to conceal it. Hmm¡­ Let''s do nothing."

    Flora nodded, satisfied. "I feel much better. Do you think I should issue an apology or explanation?"

    "Yes, Milady, at least, for the Heinkel Bomber."

    *beep beep*

    "If you make an error, you should apologize." Aidan insisted.

    *farting beep*

    "I created a monster." Flora joked. However, Aito fled. The connection between Flora and Aito grew thin. "I''m sorry, Aitoshuri. I was jesting. You aren''t a monster. You are a great help and an invaluable assistant. Humor is complicated. Take your time, don''t stress about it, and I will laugh a few weeks about your fart jokes. Okay, maybe only a few days, but I will let you communicate with Hub. He loves them. No, I won''t do that, I''m a bad influence as it is, no reason to worsen the situation."

    As Flora rambled, Aito reappeared slowly.

    "Welcome back."

    *farting beep*

    Flora cackled.

 117 2.22 Stake Out â€“ Part 2

    Flora raised her eyebrows when she spotted Sulfur Lyon in the corner of the picture. According to the label of the arrows, he posted comments in the thread of a priest of the clan SwordofMichael.

    On the bottom of the page, the picture of Raffa Razo, the former pope, smirked at her, just one contact removed from the clan.

    "Excellent work, Aito. Find out everything about this clan and its leader."

    One of the profile pictures labeled NorthEagle Flight started to flash. It was a blond guy, maybe around thirty years old. Jonathan Inthewater, as well as HeavensChosen connected to him as sponsors and over another link, friendship, he related to SwordofMichael.

    "Who is NorthEagle Flight?"

    "That''s the former Champion of the Catholics, which is a sub-faction of the Church of Christ, Milady. The Goddess Evailyn had loaned out your Champion spot to them until you joined the game."

    "Oh, dear. They are bullying us because of revenge? No, look at their demand to delay the payments for one week. They want to deplete our resources and attention before the competition for the champion spot!" Flora shook her head. "And they succeeded. I''m lying on a roof instead of advancing and spent a ton of money for the quest to restore the shrines."

    "Yes, Milady. Fortunately, our reserves are still plentiful."

    "Hmm. Good point. I don''t think they have anticipated me sponsoring the quest. So we have to expect another financial attack. But what could they do to make me spend money or concentration?"

    "You invested a significant amount of time and funds into the training facility, Milady. The initial cause was the threat of Clan Riverstones'' sponsors to abandon them. My prediction algorithm estimate a high chance that you would react with all of your avenues to a threat to your son."

    "Holy Toaster! You are right!" Flora paled.

    Thoughts raced through Flora''s head. Were the sponsors even connected to Catholic Champion? Would Robby fault her for the threats? What could she do against them? ''I want to tear them to the ground and shred them to pieces!''

    Flora closed her eyes and regulated her breathing. It took a while, but finally, her fists unclenched and her head cleared up.

    "First, we inform all the relevant parties. Aidan, send Aito''s information to all of the council members, Dave, the two clergy members with him, Mia, Eddie, Hub, Lana, Honey, and Robby. I''ll draft a separate letter to explain the situation."

    \u003e\u003e\u003e

    Dear leaders of Clan Riverstones,

    Forces associated with the Catholic sub-faction have conspired against me, and I assume they will escalate their attacks in the coming days.

    To my utmost horror, I received hints that my personal business might have spilled over to the clan.

    I''m ready to make any amends you deem appropriate and repay any losses to the clan.

    Sincerely Flowing Flowers

    \u003c\u003c\u003c

    "What do you think about the draft, Aidan?"

    "It seems to be very impersonal, Milady. Additionally, you should emphasize that you need to concentrate on your preparation before the competition. It won''t do you any good if you have to deal with clan politics atop of the external threat."

    "Yes. The neutral approach is intentional. I acted how I would act in any organization I''m a member, aside from the unlimited reparations, of course. You have a point with your second suggestion. How do I formulate politely ''leave me alone until Sunday'' ¡­ ?"

    "How about ''In the next days, I will concentrate on my development to crush any opposition.''"

    "Haha, I like it!" Flora sent the letter to Robby, Lana, and Hub, including Aidan''s sentence.

    Flora fell silent and played with the water of the brook.

    "I want to do so many things at the same time." She mumbled, shaping the water in a vortex with her finger and a bit of magic. "A part of me wants to storm to the doors of the SwordOfMichael and raise hell. Another part wants to investigate the shit out of them and post every wrongdoing on social media. Yet another part wants to leave this stakeout and Deriga and everything behind and concentrate solely on training. And of course, there is always a part of me which just wants to build awesome toasters."

    "I understand, Milady. My processing power is limited, as well. You could focus on the tasks that provide the most long term enjoyment or success."

    "You''re doing great in the empathy department." Flora smiled. "Let''s identify what will lead to longterm enjoyment or success. Keeping the Champion class? It seems to be a lot of work, but I enjoy it. I want to lead the Cetviwos into a golden age of toasting!

    Retaliation against people who attacked me? Hmm, I''m not big on revenge, but I''m totally for standing up for yourself. Let''s take some shots at them when it''s opportune, but not waste our time on revenge schemes. After all, the best revenge is a happy life.

    I''m most torn about our current situation?whether I should involve myself personally in Deriga''s rescue or not. I believe it would be disloyal to abandon her¡­ even though she is a computer program, and I hired Dave to care for her. How would you feel if I would ignore your wellbeing for the greater good of succeeding in the champion quest?"

    "It would be my pleasure, Milady!"

    *farting beep*

    "Can you elaborate, Aito?"

    *beep beep* ¡­ *beep* ¡­ *farting beep* *beheheheheheep*

    "You wouldn''t like it, but you would forgive me if I bought you a bunch of books?"

    *beep*!

    "Somehow, I feel both of your opinions don''t represent Deriga''s¡­" Flora smiled. "We will see what we get out of Sulfur, and we are going to decide afterward. Meanwhile, let''s prepare for my training regiment for the next days. I want to get the Animator class, that means spending time in the classroom. We can use that time more productively. Aidan, buy a community hub for me. It should be big enough to sleep and train and should be able to hold a lot of generators. Maybe we can stack them vertically if the hubs price is based on square meters and not cubic meters? Print out 150 generators. Aito, research my weaknesses and what I can do to make amends. You have two hours."

    "Yes, Milady!"

    Flora went back to her rune books?now, without being distracted by pangs of conscience.

    "Milady, Sulfur Lyon is approaching," Aidan said.

    Flora left the simulation grounds but remained in her workshop.

    "Transmit visuals and audio, dear," Flora said while refreshing her buffs.

    Aidan projected the video on the wall. His tentacles filmed a blond boy, Sulfur Lyon, a hulking goon, and a skittish girl entering the warehouse. Inside, the Ophree brothers and the shackled paladin Rictus waited.

    "And another pretty one for my collection." Sulfur exclaimed cheerfully. "You have the best taste in capturing clergy, brothers."

    "Yeah, yeah. It''s a feisty one. Pay us for getting her, and we add a gift bow to the next." Reginald Ophree said. He received a card from Sulfur. In exchange, he pushed the paladin towards the blond boy.

    "So, you are behind the abduction of my church colleagues! You won''t get away with it!" Rictus said between clenched teeth.

    "They act great!" Flora exclaimed before she logged out. She wouldn''t have guessed that they staged the scene.

    "We''ll see, gorgeous. Meanwhile, I will have the pleasure of taming you." Sulfur cackled.

    Dave Lupe to Party: "We have enough footage. Breach!"

    The inspector activated a remote controller. As a nearby glass panel exploded, he threw himself through the remains, dropping into the warehouse. Flora and Aidan followed.

    The Ophrees fled, and Rictus elbowed Sulfur''s nose. The rest of his gang brandished their weapons. At the same time, the door of the warehouse opened, and Monk Kowalski and two more Riverstones of squad three-one entered the building.

    "Ladies and Gentlemen, you are surrounded. Let''s have a friendly chat to convince me that I won''t send the footage of this transaction to the guards." Dave Lupin had landed directly in front of the pimp and his crew.

    "Screw you!" Sulfur screamed, and both parties exploded into action.

    Laser beams crossed the room, colorful magic effects exploded and yelled skill names echoed through the hall.

    Shocked from the sensory impact, Flora just cast Bless and Condemn. Thankfully, Aito provided her with an arrow above Sulfur''s head.

    Name: Sulfur Lion

    Clan: MyHorns

    Class: Lover

    Level: 3 (57)

    Rating: S

    Although Flora''s group had six members and Sulfur''s group only three, the fight wasn''t the overwhelming takedown Flora had expected.

    An Asian man and woman were engaging the hulking brute in melee. Just as Flora looked at them, the titan picked up the man and threw him at Monk Kowalski, who stood at the edge of the fight, chanting mantras.

    \u003cBless and Condemn\u003e

    Rictus fought against the Sulfur''s female companion, who nimbly dodged every strike. However, her dodging skill was nothing against Sulfur''s. The boy weaved around Dave, barely visible. The inspector had a gun in one hand, and a technological device encased his other arm. Bullets, nets, grenades, everything missed.

    \u003cFrostbolt\u003e!

    Flora chose ice for its slowing effect but missed too, as did Aidan, who fired at his legs.

    ''Oh well, an AoE will do the trick.''

    \u003cHail\u003e!

    While she could have placed to hit all three of their opponents, it seemed more important to make sure Sulfur had no easy way out, so he was in the center of the volley. Only a few ice pellets hit the agile girl before she stepped out of the AoE.

    "Milady, you have two hands." Aidan transmitted.

    "Right! Thank you, dear." Flora felt foolish and used her left hand to cast Tempest. She placed the AoE to hit all three opponents.

    Suddenly, Rictus ran towards her, with her sword raised.

    "What are you doing?" Flora exclaimed.

    The blade hit her flank. Then Rictus'' shield crashed against her torso, and Flora''s spells faltered.

    \u003cMagical Push\u003e!

    The paladin flew away, but Flora was still confused. "Has she changed sides? In the middle of the fight? That makes no sense!"

    "Rictus is under the influence of a mind-control spell, Milady."

    \u003cMagical Healing ¨C Water Bolt\u003e!

    Flora hoped that the secondary effect would help the paladin to regain her sense of self. However, Rictus was running towards her again.

    "I don''t want to kill her! What should I do? I know!"

    \u003cDawn\u003e!

    As the warehouse lit up, the paladin stopped, cursed, and turned around to find the nimble girl.

    "Puh!"

    \u003cBless and Condemn\u003e

    Flora calmed herself and assessed the bars above her allies'' heads. The Asian Riverstones had half of their life left, Kowalski''s health bar was nearly full, as was Rictus, but Dave was in bad shape. Sulfur and the girl had bound him in thick ropes and pelted him with all they had.

    "What was that masochist Paladin spell again?"

    "Center of Attention - All enemy STS will be partially redirected to the caster, including healing spells, Milady."

    \u003cCenter of Attention\u003e

    While channeling the prayer with her right, Flora pulled Dave to her with her left hand.

    \u003cPrayer ¨C Hitpoints: Dave\u003e

    The pimp pointed his gun at Flora''s direction, but the shot hit Dave and smashed him into Flora. At the same time, a barrage of throwing knives from the girl hit both.

    As Flora fought to keep her balance, more shots and knives arrived. Each shot hammered Flora like a truck.

    Meanwhile, Aidan had cut the ropes around Dave.

    \u003cEnergy Jump\u003e!

    Flora jumped over David and landed where Sulfur stood a second ago. Then, pain erupted in her side.

    ''That pimp is too fast!''

    Flora whirled around.

    \u003cIce Breath!\u003e

    A cloud of frozen particles spread from Flora''s hand. Although Sulfur ducked, the cone was wide enough to hit him.

    In a snakelike motion, he spun his leg around and kicked Flora''s knee. It buckled, but Flora stayed upright.

    \u003cFrostbolt\u003e

    Even from point-blank, the slippery guy managed to avoid the spell. Again, he slunk into Flora''s blind spot. This time he shot her head.

    The crack was loud enough to rupture Flora''s eardrums. Her vision blurred while the floor surged and heaved under her.

    All she could do was spread her arms and concentrate on staying on her feet?and, of course, Bless and Condemn.

    As the bile rose in her throat, another shot hit her head. Flora tumbled to the floor, but she was able to turn the pratfall into a crooked safety roll. Thankfully, the auto-mode on I bow to You and roll with it was still enabled, and the prayer activated and took the sting out of the next shot.

    \u003cBless and Condemn\u003e

    Flora laid on the floor and looked at the muzzle of Sulfur''s gun. As the pimp''s weapon went off, a laser beam hit his hand and jerked it away.

    "Retribution," flashed on her HUD, still blurry but readable.

    \u003cRetribution\u003e!

    As Flora jumped to her feet, Sulfur realigned his weapon and fired.

    "Reground" replaced the Retribution.

    ''Brilliant, this version of Re-Generate has a secondary effect that raises my stability.'' Flora thought as Sulfur''s shot jerked her again.

    \u003cReground\u003e

    "Why won''t you die?" The pimp yelled and fired.

    "Smite" appeared on Flora''s HUD.

    \u003cSmite\u003e!

    "*bleep*, that hurt!" Sulfur cursed.

    Flora dodged his next shot partly and smote him again.

    Sulfur raised both arms. First, Flora thought he wanted to surrender, but then pink smoke billowed from his feet. "Adore me!" He yelled.

    Flora stopped mid-motion. Her gaze fixated on Sulfur, who had red hearts surrounding him.

    \u003cMagical Healing ¨C Water Bolt: Sulfur\u003e

    \u003cHealing Mantra\u003e

    "Burned toast and stale jam! Am I healing them?" Flora felt magic strings holding her gaze and arms locked.

    "Yes, Milady. All of you are under a mind control spell and healing him."

    "Break!" Flora screamed and flooded her body with mana, then pressed it against the shackles. She felt something give away and stopped channeling the Mantra but wasn''t free yet.

    The three enemies ran towards the door.

 118 2.23 Stake Out â€“ Part 3

    ''At least we are all alive.''

    A shadow dropped from the ceiling. Eight appendages spread out. For one second, Flora thought a spider was attacking, but then she recognized Aitoshuri.

    The octopussy landed on Sulfur, and her tentacles entangled the pimp.

    "Break!" Flora whispered and pushed her magic against Sulfur''s mind-control. Although she was used to the superior performance of her AI, she refused to be dead weight! The mind-control broke under the pressure of Flora''s assault.

    When Aito had secured her position around his neck, torso, and legs, she jerked, and the pimp stumbled, then fell.

    \u003cMagical Pull: Sulfur\u003e

    Just as Sulfur''s hulking friend bent down to pick him up, the spell whisked the pimp away.

    To his crew''s credit, they stopped and turned around.

    "Go! We''ll meet up later." Sulfur said, and they left the building before Flora came up with a plan to make them stay.

    "Well," Flora said with Sulfur laying bundled up at her feet and her party still healing him glassy-eyed. "Well, well, well. Any suggestion on how we go on?"

    "You are asking me?" Sulfur asked.

    "You are my only conversation partner at the moment, besides my AIs, of course," Flora grinned wrily. "You might have a vested interest in the situation."

    "Well." Sulfur echoed her and grinned as well. "How about you tell your pet monster to set me free, and we speak like civilized folks."

    The tentacles clasped him tighter, and he had to struggle for breath.

    "Wrong choice of words. Aito is neither my pet nor a monster." Flora said and then added only to Aito. "I''m sure he meant the octopussy, dear. Not everyone shares my superior taste in companions."

    "Sorry." He wheezed, and Aito slackened the hold.

    "Next suggestion. Please include something that returns the abducted church members and tells me who is behind this mess." Flora activated her lie detector, the Globe of Honesty.

    "You realize that I can log out anytime I want?"

    Aidan informed Flora that the emergency logout to leave the game was always available. He couldn''t log out to the Metaworld while "captured," which had similar mechanics as "in combat". However, he could complain to Craidla, who only tolerated imprisonment by players for up to an hour and no torture at all.

    "You are a monster." Sulfur said as if it was a compliment. To Flora''s chagrin, the Globe glowed green. "Alright, I''ll set the clergy free."

    "What about information about your employers?"

    "Sorry, business secret." Sulfur smirked. "I have my standards."

    Flora checked Aito''s picture for the name of his contact within SwordOfMichael.

    "I have standards as well¡ªcredit where credit''s due. I will mention your reluctance to spill his name when I round up Bonifatius Crossed. Though, I''m not sure he will believe me."

    "Monster!" The pimp exclaimed cheerfully. "You already know everything, what could I tell you?"

    "I know nothing, dear." The Globe flashed red at Flora''s statement, and Sulfur giggled. "Nobody knows anything until they have heard a story from three sides. Just tell me a bit about how you got the job."

    "Well, the friend you have mentioned came to me with a big assignment. He wished to destroy all shrines of the Goddess Evailyn in Reye, then monitor them and take out any clergy who come to take a look. It didn''t matter to him what we did with the clergy as long as they wouldn''t reappear until Monday next week." Sulfur said. "I have treated them very well."

    "Great. Thank you very much." Flora nodded to Dave, who stopped pretending to be enchanted.

    The inspector asked a few more questions and hammered out the details of the deal. Sulfur would stop the shrine operations, free the clergy within an hour and reimburse them as well as Flora''s team with 100k credits each. In turn, Flora wouldn''t mention his name when confronting her enemies, and she wouldn''t forward the evidence of Sulfur''s wrongdoings to the Cradle guards.

    Flora was fine with that and set Sulfur free.

    "A pleasure to do business with you, Mrs. Monster." Sulfur said and bowed.

    "If you are still so cheerful, we haven''t hit you hard enough." Flora huffed. "You can call me Auntie Monster, or Auntie Flo."

    The pimp chuckled, bowed again, and left with a skip in his step.

    "For the record, nobody in my team likes to watch priests doing things to teenagers." Dave smiled wrily.

    "Sulfur was only the contact in Reye. There are a few more continents. Are you up to investigating them even when it might include watching clergy do unspeakable things?"

    "Sure. Can I use the help of your AI? Mine isn''t able to extrapolate connections like that."

    "Yes, of course. Aito is excellent¡­ and not a monster at all."

    *Farting beep*

    "We''ll start with the other continents as soon as Sulfur comes through with the agreement. If he breaks it, we''ll hunt him down and have another conversation. My team tagged him as well as his crew. We''ll know about his movements for the next 4 hours."

    "Good work." Flora shook his hand, and he introduced her to the Asians. They were twins, Emily Huhu and Ramon Huhu. His other team members watched the exits of the warehouse.

    Flora settled the payment with the Riverstones (2k VirDos or 300 Euro per hour for the whole team) and gifted multitool-scepters to Kowalski and Rictus.

    After Flora finished the administrative tasks, she jogged to the soup kitchen. She replaced the broken cleaning cabinets with the new ones and repaired the shrine.

    When Flora cleaned the location, the door to the shrine opened, and Deriga entered.

    "Auntie Flow?" The novice asked, stopping in her tracks, but then she ran into Flora''s arms. "I have been abducted. It was so horrible! They imprisoned us in a dank cellar, and I was so glad that I had some of your Nutella toasts left."

    While Flora patted her back, the sobbing Deriga told what had happened to her and the two other priests. Sulfur had put them into holding cells, fed them only sparse meals and water, but otherwise, they were left unharmed. They spent the time praying and crafting. The last was possible because Deriga had shared her workshop with her colleagues.

    That didn''t sound too bad to Flora. On the opposite, she wished she had some alone time to craft. Of course, she didn''t voice her thoughts. She was well aware that to retreat for a crafting session out of one''s free will was a totally different slice of toast than being forced to stay put.

    A few minutes ago, the captors gave them 100k credits before they knocked them out and released them in an alleyway in Texopor. Deriga was puzzled by the development, so Flora told her about the proceedings.

    "What are you going to do now?" Flora asked when Deriga calmed down.

    "I thought I''d finish my work here, but you already repaired the shrine," Deriga answered, looking around.

    Flora rolled her eyes. The novice was too diligent for her own good. "Don''t go outside without a team. The people who are behind the abductions are still at large. Take some time away from your duty." Flora suggested. That last advice people used to give her when she had buried herself in work to forget her woes. Of course, she never took it. Not to feel like a total hypocrite, Flora added: "Making some art and crafts can help to process the ordeal."

    Deriga smiled at her. "I''ll do that, Auntie."

    "Can you do me a favor, dear? I lost your workshop because I had to restructure the simulation grounds. Would you add it again?" Flora felt like a villain to take advantage of the novice so soon after her release, but Deriga was happy to help.

    A few minutes later, Flora regained access to the workshop. This time they had placed it in the corner of the unholy cliff, so Flora could cordon off the area when she needed another testing ground.

    Flora gifted Deriga a Turret-Trap and a healing turret as thank you present. "You can install them in your workshop and train your physical Vigor and Regeneration while crafting."

    "Thank you, Auntie. I progressed immensely in the last few days." Deriga raised her chest and pointed at her batch. "After the fight with the pope, my rating improved to B, and my RGS increased to three in captivity. I''m now a full-fledged priestess. Additionally, I received an ultra-rare prayer in the night after you visited my cell."

    "Amazing! I''m so happy for you!" Flora managed to suppress grilling Deriga about the skill for an entire second, then she caved. "Tell me everything about the prayer! I''m sorry! Only tell me if and what you are comfortable with. Oh, dear, I''m excited. What does it do? Of course, I''ll reimburse you for the information."

    "I''ll take Nutelly toast as payment." Deriga blushed and giggled. "I''m only joking. I believe our Goddess gave it to me because of you. It''s called Conviction and raises the Faith OV. The great thing is that you don''t need to cast it, it activates by itself if you are in the right mood. I want to teach the prayer to you."

    "Excellent! Thank you so much. Don''t sell yourself short. Your conviction in your place in the church and responsibility towards the Goddess was your own decision. I had nothing to do with it."

    Deriga slotted a nock from Aidan and transferred the skill diagram to Flora. Flora had never seen a skill that increased an affinity or that activated itself before and inspected the chart with care.

    ***************

    You gained a new skill: Conviction

    Description: Increases your Faith OV. Has no fixed cooldown and duration when mood activated.

    Cooldown: 1 min

    Duration: 10 sec

    ***************

    After Flora learned the skill, they touched up the shrine together. The matron of the soup kitchen thanked them for their work and invited them to a midnight snack.

    "Auntie¡­ may I ask you for a favor?" Deriga said, stirring her soup.

    "Sure, dear. I owe you at least two."

    Deriga blushed, her gaze locked onto the soup bowl as if it contained the secret to eternal happiness or toast.

    "You don''t owe me anything. So please be free to say no." Deriga said. When Flora just grinned at her, Deriga went off. "Your entourage is important. You shouldn''t trade it away!"

    "What entourage?"

    "The escort from the church for your champion quest."

    "First thing I hear about it¡­" Flora said, bemused. "Well?what are the responsibilities of the entourage?"

    "Oh." Deriga fell silent. "Their job is to support and advise you. There have been incidents on which the Champion lead them into battle for the competition."

    "Most interesting!" Flora said and sent Aito to research the Champion selection. "If I were a big church, I would lobby for this kind of competition, because it would give me an advantage over the smaller churches like ours¡­ Would you do me the honor of being part of my entourage? How many people do I need?"

    "Thank you, thank you, thank you! I won''t disappoint you!" Deriga exclaimed. "You need three more people."

    "Alright, I want maximal diversity. Different classes, different genders, different races, different ages. Should I include different ratings as well? Do you have recommendations? Does the Church of Evailyn have S rated members? Can I only choose church members?"

    "You should get at least B rated persons with an RCS of at least 3, better above." Deriga looked at her dish again. "If I were A-rated, I would advise you only to get A-rated people. The Church of Evailyn has no S rated members to my knowledge though some have the potential to grow to S like Ursula Yl. However, she is another young female Metaling like me. You have to choose followers of Evailyn but not necessarily clergy."

    "Please suggest a team to me before noon tomorrow. I will send the same request to the council members and maybe do some missionary work in my clan. On Wednesday One, we will test how the recruits harmonize as a team." Flora decided and delegated notifying the council to Aidan. "Aito and Aidan, please compile lists as well."

    The rest of the meal, Deriga told Flora about the selection for the Red High faction she witnessed. It included dragon-riding.

    "Oh, my," Flora smirked. She looked forward to the competition.

 119 2.24 Planning

    "I need more training dummies in my new bedroom! Aidan, print one more! Haidan, put it in the thingy which transfers it to the bedroom¡­ oh, we need a name for it¡­ let''s go with the Closet of Transference!"

    "Yes, Milady."

    "It should wield dual swords!"

    "I assume you are referring to the dummy and not the Closet of Transference. I''ll print a new one with swords, Milady."

    "Do I need a new bed? Give me a list of the highest-rated beds. With Righteous Punch to supply mana, I feel physical regen might be our new bottleneck for training. Do you think my new bed should provide more reg, Aidan?"

    "Yes, Milady."

    "Aito, why do I see activity in your library container? Are you finished with all the research tasks I''ve assigned to you?"

    *beep beep* Aito had the grace to sound guilty.

    "No more reading for you until you are done or I''m relaxing in a Jacuzzi. Jacuzzi! Aidan! I can''t believe I forgot to add a Jacuzzi to the bedroom. Can Jacuzzis have stats, too?"

    "Yes, Milady. Because of the water and heat elemental influences, debuff clearing or physical reg buffs are available."

    "Nice! Buy the best of the latter."

    An hour later, Flora laid in her new Jacuzzi and watched the clouds passing by.

    Aidan had bought a 10x10x10m community hub. Now, Flora had two options where to log into when she was in the simulation grounds, Deriga''s workshop or her new bedroom. Technically she could also do scenarios, but that beamed her away from the simulation grounds, so she didn''t count it.

    The bedroom contained two layers of generators below a platform. Flora divided the platform into four areas, one for sleeping, one for bathing, one for training with the dummies, and one empty. In the middle, she erected a tower with healing and damaging turrets and a screen for watching videos.

    You could configure the view from your hub as you wished, and Flora chose a mountain top.

    "Today we have Tuesday One. That gives us around ten days until the competition. Let''s make a list of what we need to accomplish until then. Speaking about lists, let''s have a look at the to-do list first."

    "A: Build a mech-suit with a self-destruct button (as soon as I have the Animator class)"

    "Put getting Animator on the list Champion to-do list, Prio A, building the suit, Prio B. We have to get the missing classes as soon as possible so that we have enough time to level their skills."

    "A: get a melee class."

    "I already have Martial Artist and Martial Monk¡­ Oh, dear. I would like to have a look at the elemental melee classes, but I don''t think it has priority right now."

    "You still have the quest "Take the Sweeping-Blow aptitude test", Milady. It might help you to discover useful classes for your build."

    "We''ll do it today."

    "A: more toast."

    "B: mana cultivation on auto-mode (lvl 25)"

    "Change the Prio to C. Oh wait. I might be able to combine it with this Monk thingy where I get stamina when doing abilities." Flora logged to the Simulation Grounds and from there to Deriga''s workshop. She sat on the floor and set Mana Cultivation on auto-mode and linked it to Ora Et Labora. Then she re-entered the bedroom. "My condolences, Aidan. Now you have five Flora-bodies to look over, one in my lair in a box, one in my workshop pummeling a dummy, one on the unholy cliff in a box, one in Deriga''s workshop cultivating and one in the bedroom in the Jacuzzi. That is crazy."

    "We''ll manage, Milady. B: If you want to store your loot in your bag or inventory with a spell, visit Rankspesh in Paweben."

    "Not necessary for the champion competition. Next."

    "B: Aquire a better flame."

    "Not necessary for the champion competition. Next."

    "B: Remote Arms Class (Cradle)"

    "Why did I want to have this class?"

    "Among other benefits, it will make our robots stronger."

    "Prio A, next."

    "B: Elemental Master Class (Cradle)"

    "Why did I want to have this class?"

    " Among other benefits, + 1 training efficiency modificator for all elemental affinities."

    "Prio A, next. Burned toast and stale jam, so many important things."

    "B: Secondary effect attack."

    "That would have been useful in the fight against the slippery Sulfur?At least if I would have been able to hit him with it¡­ Why did you suggest I use Smite, Aito?"

    *beep*

    "Aito delegated the explanation to me, Milady. Smite is an Intent-based spell. As long as you can sense the target and concentrate on it, it will hit."

    Flora nodded.

    "B: Building an effective Healing-Repairing Turret."

    "Prio C."

    "B: Subspaces: Meditation Chamber, Community Hub, Shrine."

    "Right, we now have a Community Hub. What do I have to do to get a Shrine or a Meditation Chamber?"

    "Most branches have a quest at level 100 in which you can get the subspace for the class. The quest for the elemental mage is on the Cradle at Zauberberg. If you manage to do it while you are in tier 1 you gain not only the Meditation Chamber but also an excellent Achievement. Additionally, the challenge takes only 25 minutes."

    "Hmm, and one more body for you to administer ¡­ why not? Prio A."

    "C: test if it is really impossible to modify items from the shop."

    "Next."

    "C: Sponsored activities: Coke"

    "Next."

    "C: Summoner Class (Cradle)"

    "Hmm¡­ Prio D."

    "C: Clan Quests"

    "Next."

    "C: Monday 2, get more nocks from Doc Brownski."

    "Oops, forgot about that. Next."

    "C: Controlling a nitro mech-suit."

    "Prio C on our Champion list as well."

    "C: Skills to learn: Bolster Immune System, Flush Out"

    "Prio B. They would have been handy for breaking Sulfur''s enchantments."

    "D: Bully Robby into letting Flora have a spin in a toaster."

    "Next."

    "D: What makes elementals reveal their name?"

    "Just continue collecting numbers, dear. I don''t feel we have enough yet to be sure."

    "E: The price of stamina potions."

    "Next."

    "That was the entire list, Milady. I suggest we add to the Champion list gaining more achievements with OV bonus to attributes. You might have some of the highest attribute levels for level 1, but people still have better stats because OV bonuses bolster their attributes."

    "Sounds good, please research achievements. And we need another bullet point to remind me of the things I have ordered Aito and you to investigate, Prio A. I know I asked a few things from Aito, but I remember none of it."

    "You asked her how to acquire the Mad Scientist class, how you can help to level the Natives, to investigate the SwordOfMicheal, and analyze your weaknesses and strengths."

    Aito provided links in ways to level the Natives, but Flora wasn''t interested in listening to it at the moment. However, she also had found some hints about Mad Scientists. They held a convention every Thursday One night. Flora cackled in delight and wrote on her to-do list.

    "Aidan, help me with coming up with a plan for the next days. I want every morning an hour for skill training. And I have to finish the quests for Evailyn and the tanks and coins for the Riverstones. Additionally, I want to do some martial arts classes and free running."

    "Do you want to watch the PvP match of the Riverstones on Tuesday Two?"

    "I do! And I want to take naps. You should never skimp on napping time."

    "Tuesday One:

    09:30 ¨C 10:00 Spell Training

    10:30 ¨C 14:30 Sweeping Blow (takes approx. 4 h, often more)

    14:30 ¨C 16:00 Nap

    16:00 ¨C 20:00 Animator (Course starts exactly at 16:00! Only two courses per day)

    20:30 ¨C 22:00 Martial Arts

    22:00 ¨C 24:00 Crafting

    Tuesday Two:

    08:30 ¨C 09:30 Spell Training

    10:00 ¨C 14:30 Remote Arms (Quest starts exactly at 10:00! Only one per day)

    14:30 ¨C 16:00 Nap

    16:00 ¨C 18:00 PvP Matches

    18:30 ¨C 22:00 Martial Arts and Free Running

    22:00 ¨C 24:00 Crafting

    Wednesday One:

    08:30 ¨C 09:30 Spell Training

    09:30 ¨C 12:00 Elemental Caverns (Quest for Meditation Chamber)

    12:00 ¨C 15:00 Selection of the entourage for the competition

    15:00 ¨C 17:00 Nap

    17:00 ¨C 21:00 Martial Arts and Free Running

    21:00 ¨C 22:00 Elemental Master Class (unsure time requirement)

    22:00 ¨C 24:00 Crafting"

    "Stop," Flora said. "I don''t think the schedule pays heed to the time dilation. From 22:00 to 10:00 would be 36 hours in time dilation. If I use extra time during the day, I will be bone tired in the evening. Let''s make a 22:00 to 10:00 schedule first."

    "22:00 ¨C 00:30 Sleep

    00:30 ¨C 03:00 Crafting

    03:00 ¨C 03:30 Nap

    03:30 ¨C 04:30 Training

    04:30 ¨C 05:30 Crafting/Business

    05:30 ¨C 08:00 Sleep

    08:00 ¨C 08:30 Spell Training

    08:30 ¨C 09:00 Reading

    09:00 ¨C 10:00 Nap"

    "What do you think about hiring a martial arts instructor? A mixed martial arts guy would be preferable. So we can train martial arts in time dilation. Someone from the clan would be great because then the time dilation will profit our own guys."

    "Excellent idea, Milady. Five people offer training for unarmed combat. RadGlory Flow (MMA, Squad 1-1), Ramrock BayernMuenchen (Krav Maga, Self-defense, Squad 1-2), Armer Bulle (Tactical Combat, Squad 3-1), Emily Huhu (MMA, Squad 3-1), Dex LexFlex (Tactical Combat, Squad 3-2). The Sweeping Blow will test you for weapon aptitude as well, so you might consider weapon training."

    Flora called Robby.

    "Ma! Shit! I''ve read your mail. What a mess!"

    "Good morning, sweetie." Flora smiled and shrugged. "As long as your clan doesn''t suffer, it will be all right."

    "Yeah, my guys are looking in the situation. They already found out that our sponsor has ties to the CoCC and a few business partners who''ve grown distant in the last week. But if they are playing political games with us, then we''ll gladly let them go and look for new ones. I can''t stand good weather friends."

    "I''m sorry, sweetie. What did you say about cocks?"

    "C o C C, Ma! Church of Christ ¨C Catholizism."

    "I have trouble fitting the CoCC into my plans. The CoCC might be too big for its own good, or maybe the CoCC is smaller than its owners believe. The CoCC isn''t hard enough to pound me."

    "Ma! You are horrible! Wait! I have to tell Hub your puns before I forget them!" Robby laughed and disappeared.

    Flora left the Jacuzzi and faced the training dummies. "We''ll start at the top of the skill list. Just display the name, Aidan, and I try to remember the diagram and cast it."

    When Flora reached Magical Saw, Robby reappeared in the communications window.

    "Hub sends his regards. He thinks racism is missing in your list of offenses and offers to write an article about your cruel behavior towards black men, namely me." Robby smirked.

    "Not funny! Okay, maybe a bit. Robby, I''m really sorry that you have to suffer because of my toils. I want to make it up to you. If you have any requests, I''ll come through."

    "Thank you, Ma. I spoke with Hub and Lana, and we are standing fully behind you and will deal with the fallout. Concentrate on castrating the CoCC. Afterward, we''ll see what we can do to develop the clan."

    Flora didn''t know what to say, and tears welled in her eyes. Sometimes she asked herself what she could have done better in raising her son, whether she concentrated too much on her career, whether Robby received enough support and attention. However, at other times he proved that he was the best possible son any mother could hope for despite her shortcomings and the difficulties of single motherhood.

    Robby laughed. "No worries, Ma. We got this."

    "Thanks." Flora sniffed.

    "We are still training for the match tomorrow, so I have to go. Love you!"

    After Robby ended the call, Flora stood lost in thought. She had the feeling that she had forgotten something.

    "What about the martial arts training, Milady?"

    Flora snapped her fingers. "Burned toast and stale jam! I''m getting mushy with old age!"

 120 2.25 Sweeping Blow Aptitude Tes

    After a short nap, she ventured to Talpica. Aidan guided her to a district with highrises. The buildings rose straight in the sky like tree trunks, and then the construction branched out like the crown of a tree with elemental domes instead of foliage. The fire domes glowed bright, and the water domes reflected the light. The spiky, green wood-structures seemed muted in comparison. Between the branches, rollercoaster tracks connected major domes.

    "These are the biggest Christmas trees I''ve ever seen!" Flora exclaimed, craning her neck to look up the impossible buildings.

    "We are in the center of Talpica. The Cradle auction house, the subsidiary of the Central Bank, and significant factions entertain branches here." Aidan explained to Flora while he guided her to the Mercenary Guild, which contained the Testing Center.

    Turnstiles barred the entry to the building. Flora imitated the other people and swiped her badge across the loggy to gain entrance.

    With a popping sound, a tiny figure appeared next to Flora''s face.

    Flora shrieked and jumped in shock.

    \u003cBless and Condemn\u003e!

    "Don''t block the turnstile. It''s just your guide." A young man with a witch''s hat admonished her while the people around him laughed.

    Flora blushed and mumbled an apology. She followed the stream of people deeper into the building but ducked into the first alcove she found. The fluttering creature followed her.

    "Hello, Flowing Flowers. I''m Friedhilde, your ferrying fairy!" The small woman chirped. Carried by translucent wings, she circled Flora''s head. "I will guide you through the Sweeping Blow quest. Would you like to begin?"

    "I don''t know, dear. I heard warnings about following fairies. Can you give me some assurance that I will make it back into the real world, or at least into the real virtual world?"

    The fairy chuckled, and it sounded like a chime ringing in the wind.

    "My contract doesn''t allow to ferry you away. Unfortunately, you''ll get only the boring standard test."

    "Now, I''m at the same time relieved and disappointed." Flora smiled and winked at the little creature.

    Laughing, the fairy backflipped in the air.

    "Follow me!" Friedhilde chirped before dashing away. Flora darted after her, with Aito and Aidan on her back.

    "We''ll start with the most tedious part first, taking the survey." The fairy said, stopping inside a wooden chamber with a runic control panel. She channeled mana into one rune, and the door closed behind them.

    "I''m going to be sick!" Flora gasped and concentrated on her breathing to fight nausea, which caused another giggling fit in the fairy.

    The cabin came to a hard stop in front of a water dome, barely bigger than the cabin.

    A portal appeared in the water curtain, and Flora entered a small room with a comfy armchair and a screen.

    "I survived, so far, so good. Aidan, I hope you are taking notes on how to navigate this rollercoaster." Flora sat down and looked at the screen. A board with five numbered buttons and arrows hovered in front of it.

    "Section 1 - Describe how much you like the following objects."

    "Flowers. 1 = strong like, 2 = like, 3 = average, 4 = dislike, 5 = strong dislike"

    Flora pressed the button with the digit "2" on it.

    "Grass."

    After the fifth word, "cars," Flora set Mana Cultivation on auto, logged into her workshop, the simulation grounds (three times time dilation), Deriga''s workshop, and finally, her bedroom.

    "Aidan, I''ll call out the numbers, and your octopussy will press the buttons for me. We are speeding this up. And get me treadmill. Let''s test whether I can read and run at the same time."

    Two hundred questions later, the different message popped up.

    "Do you want to answer the bonus questions of Section 1? 1 = Yes, 2 = Continue to Section 2."

    Flora had fun rating the terms, so she selected the bonus and answered another batch of questions.

    "Section 2 ¨C Choose how much you like the following activities."

    "Hiking. ¡­"

    Flora liked most of the proposed ventures. She noticed that when she disliked an activity that there were fewer follow-up suggestions. After she rated "Feeding pets" and "Taming animals" with five, no more animal-related topics appeared. On the other hand, pressing the one-button for art let to a plethora of questions about painting, drawing, sculpting, and sketching. She spent at least fifteen minutes clicking through crafting-related topics.

    "Oh, dear." Flora smiled wryly as she finished the food activities. "Toasting wasn''t mentioned. That is clearly an inferior test."

    In the hope of toasting related content, Flora did the bonus section again. Unfortunately, without success.

    Section 3 had a list of options to choose from.

    "You have fallen into a pit. What would you prefer to do? 1 = Jump out, 2 = Fly out, 3 = Dig yourself out, 4 = Stay in the pit, 5 = other, state your preferred action."

    At first, the situations were plausible, and Flora accepted one of the standard answers. But as the topics grew more outlandish, the offered options didn''t satisfy Flora anymore.

    "You get abandoned on an inhabited island. You are allowed to take one item with you. What will it be? 1 = Weapon, 2 = Crate of food, 3 = Saw, 4 = Barrel of Water, 5 = other, state your preferred action."

    "5, an emotional support toaster," Flora said with a straight face. "Scratch that, a helicopter with a full tank?the gas type of tank, although the masochist type of tank might enjoy flying with me."

    After completing the bonus, the next section appeared.

    "Section 4: Would you rather?"

    "That isn''t a proper sentence, but a drinking game¡­" Flora cackled.

    "1 = Heal, 2 = Smash, 3 = neither"

    "I would like to choose option 4 = both, please," Flora said, but nothing happened. "Alright, 2."

    "1 = High burst damage, low regular damage, 2 = continuous damage, 3 = neither."

    "2. Slow and steady is the way to the top."

    "1 = Invest Mana Regen in yourself (Boosts), 2 = Invest Mana Regen in companions, 3 = neither."

    "Another hard question¡­ this time I want both of them and auras on top." The screen showed no change, and Flora selected "2" with a sigh.

    Of course, Flora did the bonus part again.

    "Section 5: Rank the terms according to their desirability by pressing the buttons in the order from the most enticing to the least enticing."

    "1 = Fighting at the frontline as a vanguard

    2 = Getting close to the enemy

    3 = Staying in the second line

    4 = Fighting at max range behind cover

    5 = Supporting the supply chain of the battle."

    "This is difficult. I kind of like everything and nothing." Flora mumbled. "5, 1, 3, 2, 4. Let them make sense of that¡­"

    "1 = Shouting a challenge and charging

    2 = Rushing into the fight

    3 = Preparing an attack

    4 = Sneak attack

    5 = Waiting for the enemy to take action"

    "2, 1, 3, 5, 4. I might change my opinion on this question."

    "1 = one-handed melee weapons (sword, dagger, whip, ¡­)

    2 = two-handed melee weapons (polearm, greatsword, staff, ¡­)

    3 = cold ranged weapons (bow, crossbow, throwing knives, ¡­)

    4 = guns (revolver, rifle, machine gun, ¡­)

    5 = foci (scepter, wand, staff, ¡­)"

    "Why do I have the urge to rate greatswords high? I''ve never even touched one." Flora groaned. "2, 1, 5, 4, 3. No! Make that 5, 1, 2, 4, 3. Or better 2, 5, 1, 4, 3?"

    "After the questionnaire, practical tests will commence, Milady. There you can try out different weapons."

    "1 = Technique

    2 = Trick

    3 = Charm

    4 = Command

    5 = Art"

    "5, 4, 1, 3, 2. I have no experience with tricks, though."

    "Slide, Blur, and 7-mile Step are tricks, Milady."

    "Right! Hmm¡­ let''s leave it like this. I don''t know by what criteria I should order them?how much I like casting them, or how useful they are. So, we just go by intuition."

    More questions to order skills followed spanning all of the branches. Flora doubted, she answered consistently. Nonetheless, she felt much surer about her love of the arts and spells afterward. The diagrams for arts were simple, clear, and practical, while spells were bold and elegant. Techniques, as well as commands, were too plain and tricks, as well as charms, too artsy for Flora''s taste. Prayer diagrams had something majestic but tended to be convoluted.

    "1 = Boosts

    2 = Auras

    3 = Succinct Casts

    4 = Tethered Casts

    5 = Channeled"

    "What is the difference between 1 and 2?"

    "Boosts affect only yourself while Auras affect everyone in the range of the aura."

    "And 3 and 4?"

    "You have no influence over a succinct casted skill after finishing it. Most Intent skills like Smite or Bless and Condemn fall under this category. Tethered casts like Elemental Bolt or Breath can be changed after releasing the spell."

    Flora cast a Frost Bolt at a dummy, then another one. The spell impacted too fast for her to change anything. She jogged to the other side of the room to gain 10 meters distance from the dummy and cast again. As the icicles shot out of her hand, she willed the bolts to fly faster.

    "Did it work?"

    "If you tried to increase the speed, it did work, Milady."

    "Great! What else can I change?"

    "You can try making the spell curve or pushing more power into it to strengthen it."

    Flora tried the first option but failed. Then she changed to Lightning Bolt because she had a clearer picture of how lighting could arc. She tried a few times but wasn''t sure whether she succeeded because the lightning bolt crackled too much. At last, one of the bolts curved a bit?not much, just enough to avoid hitting an (imaginary) toaster between Flora and the target.

    Releasing the next spell, Flora fed it mana as soon as it left her hand. The lightning exploded in fireworks.

    "Well." Flora looked at the charred floor and the screen, which had caught fire, although it was still displaying the options. "Repair! Again!"

    \u003cLightning Bolt\u003e

    This time, Flora pushed her mana more gently after the spell.

    "It worked, Milady. The damage was over your maximum."

    "Give me some numbers, dear. What is my normal damage range, and how did it change?"

    "The normal range is between 101 to 135 damage for 10 mana. Your last spell hit for 142 damage, and you used 27 additional mana."

    "Oh, that''s pretty ineffective. However, even the standard damage is much higher than I would have assumed. I could kill myself with three hits!"

    "You would need at least five, Milady?ten while wearing your mech-suit. You have over thirty percent magical resistance. Concerning the efficiency of boosting the spell on the fly: With your current Micro-Control, a maximum of 30% of your invested mana points convert into damage. The Morph Damage Up-Mana Up would get you 12.5 more damage for 25 mana."

    "So, the morph has an efficiency of 50%." Flora mused.

    "Not necessarily, Milady. It increases the damage by 10 for 25 mana, 25 for 50, 50 for 100, but your class bonus of 25% gets applied afterward."

    "Write Morphs on the to-do list. Aito, buy books about them for up to 2000 VirDos." Flora looked at the screen. "I enjoy pumping mana into channeled casts. My only aura is Divine Radiance, but I like it¡­ Let''s make it Channeled, Aura, Succinct, Tethered, Boost."

    "1 = Animals, 2 = Robots, 3 = Elemental, 4 = Golems, 5 = Zombies."

    "Which class gets Golem companions, and what can they do?"

    "It''s the signature skill of the Animator class, Milady. They receive a part of your attribute, affinities, and abilities, and you can assign them two of your spells."

    Flora fidgeted. "I''m so excited about them! I didn''t know they were called golems. Just that you know, I''ll make robot golems! 4, 2, 3, 1, 5."

    Finally, Flora reached the decision about whether she wanted to do the bonus questions, and she hesitated. Section 4 hadn''t been as enjoyable as the others. She could deal with no instructions, and with detailed instructions, even vague orders were fine, but she hated ambiguous or subjective criteria like "order by enticingness."

    On the other hand, Flora wasn''t a person who liked to break a streak. She had selected the bonus for all the other sections, so she wasn''t going to chicken out just because the questions were a bit harder.

    Flora answered question after question. Just when she thought it would never end, the next screen proved her wrong.

    "Thank you for participating in the written portion of the Sweeping Blow Aptitude Test.

    We''re recommending you do at least three of the practical tests. The list is ordered by decreasing importance:

    1. Primary Attribute

    2. Weapon Talent

    3. Party Role

    4. Crafting Talent

    5. Companion Administration

    6. Single Target versus Area of Effect

    7. Casting Talent

    8. Driving Test

    9. Artistic Talent

    10. Direct Effects versus Effects over Time"

    Flora considered asking Aidan to clarify some of the items but then decided to let herself get surprised. "We''ll take them all!"

 121 2.26 SBAT â€“ Attributes

    "You''ll find the exercises for the primary attribute in there. The test measures how much fun and skill you show when acting out the essence of an attribute." Friedhilde chirped.

    "Sounds intriguing," Flora said, her head cinema working overtime imagining the activities. "May I do it in time dilation? I have a lot of tests on my schedule."

    The fairy swished her arms through the air, configuring invisible screens, and then flashed Flora a thumbs-up.

    When Flora entered the dome, only a grey concrete arena awaited her. Her mech-suit, as well as the octopussies, had vanished. Instead, she wore a blue catsuit with the clan Riverstones logo.

    **************

    Test: Attribute Attunement

    Description: Choose an attribute and try out the suggested activities. Every exercise has a grey mannequin-routine to demonstrate the event. Red-colored mannequin-routines impart temporary skills necessary to complete the activity.

    You have five minutes to enjoy yourself. During the time, the relevant attribute is set to level 250. You can always skip to the next attribute or request bonus time.

    With what attribute would you like to start?

    **************

    "Are you alright, dears?" Flora asked her AI''s.

    "Yes, Milady. Although, I lost my connection to the octopussy."

    *beep*

    "Dear test, we''ll do the attributes in the order listed in the stats tab."

    **************

    Physical Power Exercises

    **************

    The room rumbled, and a carnival appeared around Flora. A red and yellow striped tent with a "THE WORLDS STRONGEST PERSON" sign stood next to a high striker and a machine with a punching bag. As promised, each attraction included a pedestal with a grey miniature, the Kin-Route.

    Power shot through Flora. Her body felt lighter, and she just knew that she was now able to lift boulders. A glance on her stats showed that her Strength OV had risen to 71.

    "Holy Toaster! What happened to the sucky OV calculation? I would have never thought that 160 levels more would get me 40 more OV!"

    "Level 249 would be only 54 OV. The fifth milestone, Ascension, is the reason for the increase. At level 250, the calculation of the OV changes."

    "Alright. That does decide it. We have to get all the important attributes to 250. Let''s not waste time and test out my new premium body." Flora took a step towards the high-striker and promptly stumbled. "Wow, take it easy old girl. Some additional horses hide their power under your skin."

    Flora only needed a few steps to get used to her new power. Wearing different mech-suits helped her acclimate to different bodily conditions.

    "Can do!" Flora eagerly took up the massive hammer. It felt light?maybe because of her newfound strength, or maybe it would be too easy to use a real sledgehammer for the game, so they created a dummy for show.

    Flora raised the hammer above her head and smashed down. The head missed the center of the block. Although the little puck raced upwards, it didn''t reach the bell.

    "Once more with feeling!" This time, Flora checked her reach and moved the hammer up and down a few times before she committed to the next swing.

    "Eeeeeya!" The hammer crashed on the block with a satisfying thud, and the puck shot to the bell. Its ringing filled the small room.

    "Ha! Not bad for a granny, right, Aidan?"

    "Yes, Milady, especially your battle cry."

    Flora laughed good-naturedly but blushed.

    Next, Flora went to the boxing machine. Without consulting the kin-route, she hit the punching bag. The target snapped back, and numbers rose on display until they stopped at 1328. The record showed 1999, so Flora tried a few times to beat it. Her numbers slowly rose until she reached 1644.

    Flora stepped back, accelerated, and crashed into the bag.

    A hoot echoed through the chamber, and no numbers appeared on the machine.

    "What is happening?"

    **************

    You used macro-control to strengthen the impact and not power.

    **************

    Flora sighed and returned to normal punches. However, she couldn''t beat the score in the next few attempts. She was sure she couldn''t improve without investing time in her punching technique.

    **************

    Do you want extra time?

    **************

    "Yes, please. I want to try the last challenge."

    Regretful, she left the boxing machine and turned to the last attraction. This time she consulted the kin-route and chuckled. Arm wrestling, tug of war, and throwing trees were on the agenda.

    Flora lost the wrestling match, then got dragged through the mud while holding a rope and finally threw a tree trunk on her toe.

    "At least, I had the chance to wear a kilt for the last one." Flora consoled herself.

    **************

    Do you want extra time?

    **************

    "Milady, please take into consideration that we need to be punctual for the Animator course, or we have to postpone learning the class until tomorrow."

    "I thought the Sweeping Blow quest only takes four hours?"

    "That is the average duration, Milady. You needed nearly three hours for the quiz part. Fortunately, you decided to do it in time dilation; otherwise, we would be already close to the timeslot reserved for your nap."

    Flora glared at the popup, but the Animator class was more important to her than proving her strength to the system.

    "Next attribute!"

    **************

    Physical Macro-Control Exercises

    **************

    The carnival vanished and was replaced by three new challenges: An obstacle course, an arena with a battery of turrets surrounding it, and six orange cones.

    First, Flora went to the cones. She stumbled again but caught herself without a problem, thanks to the changed attributes. The kin-route showed her the Illinois Agility Run. You had to sprint ten meters, round a cone and sprint back, then do a slalom and then another sprint.

    Flora laid on her stomach behind the starting line. When the drill sounded, she exploded forward. The cone, which signaled the change in direction, arrived faster than she thought, but she managed to round it. After sprinting back, she slalomed through the next section but knocked over one cone. For the last sprint, she gave her all.

    A penetrating hoot signaled her disqualification. A board showed 14.1 seconds in red. Next to it stood the time to aim for?10 seconds.

    "I failed the run in two different ways? Burned toast and stale jam, these attribute exercises are hellish!"

    The following run lasted 12.7 seconds, the next 10.9 seconds, but Flora was disqualified again. Nonetheless, the result showed her that 10 seconds were within her reach.

    Flora left the cones and went to the obstacle course. After watching the routine, she scaled a wall, crawled under barbwire, and balanced on beams. She beat the target time by two seconds.

    Motivated, she went back to the cones and destroyed?9.9 seconds!

    **************

    Do you want extra time?

    **************

    "We''ll take just a quick peek at the last challenge."

    Standing at the center of the circle, Flora dodged paintballs from turrets. In the beginning, they shot only from the north, then east and west joined the fun. After 40 seconds, the towers in the south activated.

    Paint splattered Flora from head to toe when the turrets stopped after one minute. The display showed her that she needed under five hits to succeed, but received 34 loads.

    "One more time!"

    The paint vanished, and the turrets fired again.

    One minute and 23 hits later and more artwork than engineer, Flora gave up.

    "Next attribute!"

    **************

    Physical Micro-Control Exercises

    **************

    A piano, knitting supplies, throwing knives, and a butt appeared.

    Carefully, Flora took a step forward, feeling clumsy.

    "250 strength and agility are a drug!" Flora frowned, but when she wiggled her fingers, the smile returned to her face. "Let''s try the dexterity high!"

    First, Flora went to the throwing knives. She hit the target with all five of them, and they even stayed embedded. While Flora was proud of her result, the test demanded to hit the bullseye every time.

    The knitting challenge requested 200 stitches in 30 seconds.

    Flora grinned wolfishly and picked up the knitting needles and tested the yarn. On the signal, she started knitting. The clacking of the needles sounded like machinegun fire.

    When the stop signal rang, the beginning of a shawl had grown in Flora''s hands, 236 stitches.

    "Finally, a granny-friendly challenge." Flora chuckled. "I''ve done speed stitching in the past, and 200 stitches in 30 seconds is impossible for a normal human being. This test demands superhuman results. Somehow that takes the sting out of failing the tests. On the other hand, they provided me with the stats to do impossible feats¡­"

    Next, Flora watched the kin-route for the piano. She slipped in the body of a master pianist and enjoyed feeling her fingers fly over the keys.

    "We''ll cheat for this one, Aidan." Even with the provided sheet, Flora had no confidence in finding the right keys on the piano within the time limit. "Color the required keys in my HUD; for the first pass, we try 1.5 times speed."

    Flora concentrated on the keyboard and pressed the keys Aidan marked for her. It worked pretty well. For the next attempt, Aidan raised the tempo, and Flora made two mistakes, but the third pass was a success.

    The last few seconds, Flora spent with the throwing knives. She even hit the bullseye twice.

    **************

    Physical Vigor Exercises

    **************

    Flora''s eyebrows rose when the new attractions arrived?an aquarium containing a fish with too many teeth, one pink fluffy monster with vicious claws, and a rack with an assortment of torture instruments.

    The info sign "Touch the aquarium, and deliver the breadbasket to the hungry family" drew her to the first attraction. It wasn''t a toast related quest, but bread was the base for toast, and the hungry family surely had some class and would toast it.

    "For the toast!" Flora exclaimed and touched the basin. Teleportation whisked her away. In her excitement, she had forgotten about watching the kin-route. Thankfully the situation seemed clear enough when she arrived next to a river. A basket with deliciously smelling bread waited for her, and on the other bank, a family of four Metalings waved.

    Flora remembered the toothy fish, so she cast an Acid Shield before she picked up the basket. Inspecting the water, she saw neither movement nor the river bed.

    "Oh, dear," Flora feared the unknown more than monsters. "Just a little stroll through piranha territory. Nothing to worry about. You have an awful lot of HP and a sturdy shield, a whole collection of sturdy shields and healing spells. Aidan, how big is my current health pool?"

    "730 Health Points, Milady."

    "Right. That''s a lot." Flora took a deep breath and entered the river.

    After five steps, the water reached her navel, and she held the basket above her head. "Nothing will spoil the potential toasts!"

    Liquid entered her Water Shield, but it held.

    "Aidan, I think I felt something bouncing off the shield," Flora said, her voice higher than normal. "Did something hit it?"

    "Yes, Milady. The combat log says four Multumdente Saturni attacked it for 3-4 damage each."

    "Miep!" Flora accelerated. "I mean, I''m totally brave. Tremendously brave. Some fish with too many teeth don''t impress me at all!"

    \u003cLightning Breath\u003e

    Flora discharged the spell in the water, and dead fish rose to the surface. Just as she relaxed, the surface bubbled, and only a bloody mist remained.

    "Meeeeeeep!"

    *beheheheep*

    "Not funny, Aito! Okay, maybe a bit. Ouch!"

    A fish had bitten into Flora''s calf. The next bite followed into her flank, then the next into¡­ "My buttocks, ow! Bless and Condemn! They''re eating my bum! Burned Toast! Bless and Condemn!"

    Flora hurried through the water, casting spells non-stop.

    Short of breath, Flora arrived at the river bank and checked the bread.

    "Finally safe!" She sighed.

    "You never had less than 94% of your maximum health, Milady."

    "Oh well, never mind. You can''t be too safe. Okay, maybe you can, if your safety impedes your freedom, but that is a discussion for another day." Flora turned to the family. "Please enjoy your bread. I can highly recommend toasting it."

    As the Metalings thanked her, Flora ported back to the room.

    The challenge counted as a success.

    "Let''s take the monster next. At least, it''s too big to hide."

    "Take the strongest blow of the mighty Knuddelsuess. Bonus points the more combatants survive."

    Flora watched the kin-route and rolled her eyes. After discussing the skill rotation with her AIs, she touched the monster and teleported away.

    Flora found herself in a clearing, wearing armor. Her left hand clutched a shield, her right hand a plasma sword. She stared at the pink belly of the monster as a claw as big as she hit her shield.

    "Aito, skills!" Flora ordered as she braced against the impact.

    From watching the kin-route, Flora knew that other fighters and even healers surrounded her. Now, the sounds of spells and grunts reached her, but her eyes never left the enemy.

    \u003cSet Mark\u003e

    \u003cSmite\u003e

    \u003cRadiant Circle\u003e

    Flora prayed, and a glowing circle appeared surrounding the monster and the melee fighters. Defensive skills cast by friendlies had now a chance to propagate to other combatants.

    \u003cFortification of Faith\u003e

    The monster jumped in the air and balled his claws into fists.

    As the fists smashed into the ground, Flora threw herself to the side.

    \u003cI Bow to you and Roll with it\u003e

    The shockwave rocked Flora as she came up, but she was ready for casting the next skill.

    \u003cBless and Condemn\u003e

    The scene vanished, and Flora was back. The info sign changed to "Success, Bonus: 4/4 melee fighters survived."

    Flora looked at the stack of paddles and whips and shook her head. "Next attribute."

    **************

    Physical Regeneration

    Unfortunately, no exercise within a reasonable time limit can convey the joy of having excellent regeneration.

    May I access your logs of the last week to analyze your regeneration usage?

    **************

    "Yes."

    **************

    Error: Impossibly high regeneration usage.

    **************

    "I spent some, okay, a lot of time in time dilation. Feel free to scan the logs for that."

    **************

    Error: Impossibly high regeneration usage.

    Administrator contacted.

    Account cleared by the Administrator.

    **************

    "Thank you, Mr. Administrator."

    **************

    You gained an achievement: Attribute Attunement Record ¨C Physical Regeneration

    Reward: + 1 OV Physical Regeneration

    **************

    "Great, thank you." Flora beamed. "Next!"

    **************

    Physical Defense Exercises

    **************

    Immediately, Flora sensed the difference in her stats. It was as if a bubble protected her skin. She poked her arm, and it felt normal, but she was sure that someone would have to employ some power to damage her.

    "Welcome to the world of masochists part two," Flora mumbled, surveying a thorny thicket, a bed of nails, and a turret.

    First, Flora ran a lap in the thicket. Because she closed her eyes when the branches brushed against her face and avoided the nastiest patches of thorns, she failed the test. During the next lap, she steamrolled through the bushes, but couldn''t suppress the reflex to close her eyes.

    "Alright. One last attempt!" Flora opened her eyes as wide as she could.

    "Don''t blink! Don''t wink! Don''t blink!" She chanted while dashing through the thicket.

    "Success! And now a nice rest on the bed of nails," Flora chuckled.

    After she laid down, a timer started counting down from 1 minute.

    "It''s rather comfy."

 122 2.27 SBAT â€“ Attributes 2

    "Mhhh¡­"

    "Milady! Please wake up. The fairy Friedhilde contacted me and asked whether you are alright."

    "I''m fine! I''m fine! But where am I?"

    "You are at the Sweeping Blow Aptitude Test and fell asleep on a bed of nails."

    Flora felt under her. "Ouch! Yes, nails, definitely nails." Flora shook her head to clear the cobwebs. "How long have I slept?"

    "One hour, Milady. By the way, you passed the challenge."

    *beheheheep*

    Flora joined Aito''s chuckling. "Oh, well, having high defense is awesome."

    Because two minutes were left on the timer for the physical defense portion of the test, Flora let the turret shoot at her. It didn''t even sting.

    **************

    Physical Perception Exercises

    **************

    The world grew clear. Colors intensified, Flora heard her own heartbeat, and she could even smell the mint of the drink on a nearby table. Enticed, she sipped at it.

    "Identify the components of the beverage by taste." The info sign read.

    "Mint, lemon, kale, banana, and maybe pepper?"

    The hooting sound signaled her failure.

    Flora tried a few more combinations, but couldn''t get it right.

    Next, Flora ported to a tower and reported enemy movements. Then she appeared in a dark cave and had to listen for footsteps and estimate how many people approached.

    Both tasks went well.

    **************

    Magical Attribute Attunement

    May I access your skills to customize the challenges for you?

    **************

    "Would I get to learn new skills if I don''t show you?" Flora asked, grinning, but then remembered her resolution to go easy on acquiring new skills. "Nevermind, you may access them."

    **************

    You are missing a beam type of spell for the Magical Power Exercise.

    Would you like to do the Magical Macro-Control Exercise first to learn the spell?

    **************

    "Sure! Beam sounds great!" Flora exclaimed. "And Aidan, you heard her, I''m innocent. I totally didn''t go for more skills!"

    "Yes, Milady?" Aidan sounded confused.

    **************

    Magical Macro-Control Exercises

    **************

    A console with a hologram of a skill diagram and a target butt appeared.

    Flora closed in on the hologram like hawk on a mouse.

    "Learn the Spell Acid Jet. Target time: 2 minutes." The sign demanded.

    "Pretty! Definitely water and look how much room for filling it with mana there is! It''s definitely a channeled spell. It''s a bit more sophisticated than my other spells."

    "The elemental beams are tier 2 spells, Milady."

    \u003cAcid Jet\u003e!

    A jet of water gushed out of Flora''s hand.

    **************

    You gained a new skill: Acid Jet.

    Description: (channeled) A beam of water to soak your enemies.

    Range: 5 meter

    Tier: 2

    **************

    \u003cLightning Beam\u003e!

    "I love it!"

    **************

    You gained a new skill: Lightning Arc.

    Description: (channeled) A beam of lightning to shock your enemies.

    Cooldown: None

    Range: 5 meter

    Tier: 2

    You learned the skill without guidance: + 1 OV to the skill.

    **************

    "Aidan, remind me to get the other elements as well."

    Flora went to the next challenge.

    "Cast 15 elemental bolt spells. Target time: 10 seconds."

    "Burned toast and stale jam! Is that even possible?"

    "Yes, Milady. With your current stats you could reach 9 seconds."

    Flora has trained speedy Acid Balls for her duel with Robby''s fianc¨¦e, so she used them.

    Acid splashed on the target as Flora pretended to be the world fastest water balloon launcher.

    "13.8 seconds."

    "Again!"

    "12.4 seconds."

    "Let me try something." This time Flora charged the diagram with the absolute minimum. On the fourth bolt, she messed up, and the spell fizzled out in the air.

    "Again!"

    "11.4 seconds."

    "I''m too careful. Maybe if I charge it in bursts?" Flora pelted the target, but her mana ran out after only six Acid Balls.

    "It looked promising, Milady."

    A blue potion appeared next to Flora, labeled "Mana". Flora sniffed on the flask. When she recognized the smell, she downed the potion. Her mana bar shot up and Flora felt a bubbling warmth in her stomach.

    "Good stuff, again!"

    "9.8 seconds."

    **************

    Magical Power Exercises

    **************

    "What about the third challenge?" Flora asked as her surroundings changed.

    **************

    The third challenge was modifying a spell. You completed it when you changed the element of the beam.

    **************

    Shrugging, Flora looked around. However, the things happening in her gut distracted her. Flora didn''t have any words to describe the feeling?Maybe like her imaginary friend who lived in her bowels curling up and condensing? It wasn''t painful, at least.

    \u003cLightning Breath\u003e

    "Oh dear. My magic is totally messed up! Or my perception of it." Flora was intrigued. The lightning crackled stronger than ever before, but the magic formed sluggishly. "It''s the shift from Macro-Control to Power. Going through the magical attributes will be as annoying as the physical alterations. On the other hand, the changes are helping me to understand each stat and its impact better."

    Flora walked to the first challenge and watched the kin-route. Then, she turned to the nearby flamethrower and cast Acid Jet. The machine sprang to life and returned fire. The thick jet of water and the spurting flame met in a cloud of steam. The fire was winning and approached Flora.

    Flora packed more mana into the spell.

    The grating hoot sounded, and the fire stopped.

    "What?"

    **************

    You used macro-control to strengthen the spell and not power.

    **************

    "Oops. Deja vu¡­" Flora thought about what to do, but her mind always wandered back to the spell diagram. "Am I right in the assumption that every manipulation of the diagram counts as macro-control?"

    "I''m unsure, Milady."

    Aito beeped the "it''s complicated" rhythm.

    "If the diagram is the toaster and the mana is the toast, I stuffed extra toast into the slots and on top of it. Maybe I should pack the toasts tighter by slicing them but still fit them orderly into the slots."

    *beep beep*

    Flora filled all the lines of her mental diagram tightly with mana and released the spell. As soon as the water left her hand, the hoot and message reappeared.

    "If I would compare it to the physical stats, it would be impossible to divide the strength and agility aspect of a punch. If I include ability or technique into the equitation, it would be even more complicated. Or maybe it''s easy if you think about it in physics terms. Power is Force multiplied with distance per time. And Force is Mass multiplied by Acceleration. Can I compare Acceleration to Agility and Mass to Physical Power? The comparison falls short with physical stats, but my mana feels denser with the raised power stat¡­"

    *beep*

    "On the other hand, Magical Macro-Control concerns the diagram and not something with speed. Okay, that''s wrong. Speed casting was part of the Macro-Control test. Now, I''ve returned to the assumption that Macro-Control is the speed?and maybe the finesse?of charging the diagram and magical power the mass. Burned Toast."

    *farting beep* Aito displayed a light blue sphere. It sucked in particles in a vortex but also emitted them. As the vortex grew more substantial, the sphere''s color darkened.

    "Of course! I don''t have to add more toast, but better quality toast! The change in density in my magical core is not because the mana is tighter, but it''s higher quality! The volume of the mana pool didn''t change, but the mass of a single mana particle increased!"

    *beep*

    "Thank you, Aito. But wouldn''t that mean that my spells are stronger without me doing anything?" Flora cast an Acid Ball. It was much thicker than regularly. "Okay, so the power is higher, even with me doing nothing special. I just have to figure out how to apply extra oomph. Are we back at the start? No, now I know what to change, I just haven''t figured out how to do it."

    *farting beep*

    **************

    Do you want extra time?

    **************

    "Yes, please." Flora looked around. "We''ll try the other challenges first; maybe something will come to me."

    Close to the flamethrower, a circle with a conical field with distance measurements, like in shot put, was located. Instead of balls, three rocks laid next to it. One the size of Flora''s head and one of her belly when she was pregnant with Robby and one in between.

    The kin-route showed Flora that she had to throw them with Telekinesis. The target distance was 50 meters, with all three results added.

    Flora lifted the smallest and moved it to the back of the circle.

    "Hoot."

    Flora rolled her eyes as the rock reappeared in front of her. This time she moved it in the air backward and then hurled it into the field at a 45¡ã angle.

    It sailed in a perfect trajectory to the end of the area, then vanished.

    Flora blinked. She had a clear view of the whole field but couldn''t spot the rock. The changing display drew her gaze, now 30 meters showed on her side of the layout.

    "Oh dear! Is this strange game mechanic at work where bullets vanish after 30 meters? It limits throws as well?"

    "Yes, Milady."

    "What would happen if I let a rock fall from a 35-meter high cliff? As a next test, I would throw it down. Would I die if I fall off a 35-meter cliff, but if I throw myself down, would I vanish as well? Aidan, remind me to test it when we encounter a cliff. Tricky Beach contains high enough steep faces."

    Flora lifted the beachball sized boulder telekinetically and repeated the throw. It passed the 20-meter mark before it hit the ground.

    "Ha! I''ve already passed the test! Nonetheless, we haven''t progressed on the mana mass problem." Flora stared at the last boulder. It was much bigger than she initially thought, not the size of her actual pregnant belly, more like her belly felt at that time.

    As Flora picked up the rock, her magic fought against its mass. She didn''t dare to move it back to gather momentum, so she pushed it with all her magical might at a 45¡ã angle into the air. After just a few meters, she lost control. Momentum carried the rock a bit father up before it sank. 10.2 meters.

    "Interesting! I might have a guess what holds or increases the magical mass. Willpower! That''s one of the colloquial names for Magical Power, isn''t it? I use telekinesis intuitively, but most of the other skills via diagrams, so it''s easy to add emotions to it. I want to test whether I can mix the two casting styles up. Why not start with adding willpower to the beam spell?"

    Flora hyped herself up, walking to the flamethrower. "I''m determined! I''m ready! I splash!"

    "Acid Jet" She yelled.

    A torrent of water streamed out of her hand. The flamethrower held against it with surging fire, but this time the water was winning.

    "Expunge! Purge! Douse! Other synonyms for killing fire! Aidan, help!"

    "Quench, Extinguish, Erase, Milady."

    "Thank you! Did you listen, Flamethrower?" Flora screamed.

    Apparently, the machine did hear them and spluttered out when the water reached it.

    Flora cleared her throat. "Puh, that was arduous. I''m not the screaming type. We have to look into a different method. Oh, I know a specialist! Eddie told me about expressing emotions once. He participated in an acting workshop about this topic."

    \u003e\u003e\u003e

    Hi Eddie,

    I''m looking for ways to express willpower or intelligence for utilizing magical power that doesn''t involve yelling. Any ideas?

    Hugs and kisses, Flo

    \u003c\u003c\u003c

    "Maybe I could add a ''sharp'' feeling to the spells? There is the saying about a ''sharp minds''¡­ " Flora mused. "We''ll test it in the next challenge."

    The next test demanded to one-shot green blobs with fireballs.

    Flora cooed when the green slimes appeared. "Aren''t they the cutest? Robby was wrong, I would totally do Jiu-Jitsu with them!"

    Flora glanced at the timer, only a few seconds were left, and her mana was low anyway. "Here I come!" She dashed to the first slime and squeezed it.

 123 2.28 SBAT â€“ Attributes 3

    "Next Attribute!"

    **************

    Magical Micro-Control Exercises

    **************

    The first challenge consisted of blasting a target butt with five bolt skills. Flora had no issue with hitting the bullseye, but for the last spell, a column appeared between her and the target. She curved the lightning bolt around it. However, the scoreboard displayed that she only hit one of the inner rings.

    "Good enough for the moment." Flora reminded herself that she wanted to be punctual for the Animator class.

    The next challenge transported Flora onto the parapet of a castle. Below, a battle was raging. Flora''s task was to place rain spells. She looked for congregations of fighters and cast Tempest on them. First, she went after the most people per spell, but then she spotted four enemy healers in the back, just within her casting range.

    "Let''s distract them."

    When the lightning hit them, they dodged out of it, but everybody moved in the same direction, so Flora followed them with their personal storm cloud, cackling.

    The last challenge returned her to the room. Flora had to stand on a platform in the center of a merry-go-round. The elephants, unicorns, and ostriches had health bars above their heads, and little pictures of them with their bars showed on Flora''s HUD as if she were in a group with them.

    The info board said that Smite was acting like a healing spell during the challenge, and Flora should use it to top off the damaged carnival rides. Flora frowned at the board.

    "I don''t feel comfortable using a damaging spell for healing."

    When nobody reacted to her complaint, she ordered Aidan to display Smite, Fireball, and Healing Fireball next to each other. Flora tried to build a transformation for the damaging portion of Smite analog to the change of the diagrams from elemental damage to elemental healing. However, Spell diagrams and Prayer diagrams differed too much.

    Flora closed the spells and opened Bless and Condemn. She knew somewhere in the chart had to be a projection of divine damage; she just had to find it. It didn''t help that Bless and Condemn was an AoE spell and not Intent-based. Next, she studied Mantra. Although the prayer scaled with intent, Flora had no experience with dissecting channeled skills. Additionally, you could decide which pool to regenerate with it, and that section of the diagram left Flora''s mind spinning. When she inspected Pray, she immediately recognized this part from mantra, but fortunately, there wasn''t much else to complicate things.

    **************

    Do you want extra time?

    **************

    Flora cut out the core part of Pray and integrated it into the Smite diagram. Then she filled the chart with mana. Before she had finished, the construct exploded in her mind. Needles attacked her brain, but thanks to the pain reduction Flora hardly suffered. Only her concentration bar took a big dip.

    Taking a deep breath, Flora stared again at the diagrams.

    "Let''s be professional about it." Flora circled and numbered five parts of Pray''s diagram, starting with the area she had transferred. "Aidan, record the results. Test 1 explosion and brain attack."

    Test 2 and Test 3 resulted in the same effects. Test 4 brought a change. The spell formed sluggishly but left Flora''s hand and a golden mist appeared around the ostrich ride.

    "The combat log states 7 mana for the ostrich, Milady."

    Flora marked three more similar areas in the diagram. "We skip test 5. I have a good feeling about test 6."

    "The combat log states 7 health for the ostrich, Milady."

    "Success! Now we just have to harmonize the chart." Flora adjusted the lines. She tried to capture the spirit of a prayer in the big picture without losing the form of the transplanted part. Combining mathematical intuition and art forgery, she refined the new skill.

    Flora charged the diagram and let it fly.

    **************

    You gained a skill: Redeem.

    Description: Heals the target.

    Cooldown: None

    Range: 15 meter

    Tier: 2

    You learned the skill without guidance: + 1 OV to the skill.

    **************

    You gained an achievement: Skill-Smith: You created a new skill, you modified a skill and you reconstructed a skill of a higher tier.

    Rewards:

    - Title: Skill-Smith: Increased Reputation with Scholars

    - + 1 OV Magical Macro Control

    **************

    "Congratulation, Milady."

    "Thank you, dear. What is the difference between Tier 1 and Tier 2 skills?"

    "You can only learn them from trainers when you are at least level 25. They only work if you have the corresponding affinity in tier 2. They have either a higher base damage or an increased secondary effect. If you are in a zone with a lower level cap than level 25 they decrease in effectivity and you can''t use them on auto-mode."

    "So, I can''t train them inside a box in my lair, because I capped the zone at level 1. I won''t change it because of security reasons. I don''t want a level 200 smashing my place. However I can raise the cap in the simulation grounds and train there." Flora paused. "Can someone rough up my lair? I don''t want CoCCs thrusting into my church!"

    "Your apartment is safe. However, the church part is open to everyone. The production hall and roof garden are accessible to all followers of Evailyn, besides the people you have authorized."

    "Produce and install turrets. I want no blind spots, at least four turrets should cover the entry of the church and at least two turrets the rest. Put a turret every three meters on the generators on the roof. Buy and install better sensors as well?infrared, magic, and motion sensors. Get as fancy as you can with a budget of 5k VirDos. Get some loudspeakers as well. Haidan should be able to communicate with guests and insult attackers."

    "Yes, Milady."

    **************

    Do you want extra time?

    **************

    "Yes." Flora shook her head and cleared her mind. "Let''s heal some unicorns."

    Flora went to the platform, and the carousel started to spin. Every two seconds a lightning bolt came from the sky and damaged one of the 18 mounts.

    First, Flora looked at the damaged ride to heal it after she sensed the bolt, but then she figured out that she could just target the same spot with Redeem.

    After eighteen bolts and eighteen Redeems she had won the challenge.

    "That was too easy¡­ Did I miss something?"

    "No, Milady. Most people lose time searching for the right target. The users in the forums complained about the degree of difficulty of this test. Allowedly, they are whining about every challenge."

    "I can commiserate." Flora laughed. "Next attribute!"

    **************

    Magical Vigor Exercises

    **************

    Flora had to channel a Razor Leaves for one minute then overcharge a Fireball.

    Only for the last challenge, revolving her magical core, she did need a second attempt.

    **************

    Magical Regeneration

    Unfortunately, no exercise within a reasonable time limit can convey the joy of having excellent regeneration.

    May I access your logs of the last week to analyze your regeneration usage?

    **************

    "Yes."

    **************

    Error: Impossibly high regeneration usage.

    Administrator contacted.

    Account cleared by the Administrator.

    **************

    "Thank you, Mr. Administrator."

    **************

    You gained an achievement: Attribute Attunement Record ¨C Magical Regeneration

    Reward: + 1 OV Magical Regeneration

    **************

    "I like this challenge the most," Flora smirked.

    **************

    Magical Defense Exercises

    **************

    "Welcome to the world of masochists part three." Flora sighed. "I won''t flinch this time!"

    She held her promise and toughed out the magical assault.

    **************

    Magical Perception Exercises

    **************

    Flora had no problem sensing magic and aced the challenges.

    **************

    Congratulations, you completed the Attribute Attune Test. Do you want to know your results or do you want to repeat an exercise?

    **************

    "Hmm." Getting the achievements for the regenerations lead Flora to a hypothesis. "Are there achievements with OV bonuses for each attribute?"

    **************

    Yes.

    **************

    "What do you think? Is it worth the time to attempt to get them? We have spent several hours doing scenarios for just one point. I reckon we could acquire at least some OV much faster here. If the time gets tight for the Animator class, I''m willing to skip some of the other tests."

    *beep*

    "Yes, Milady. You won''t have to set a record. Scoring in the top 0.01 percentile is enough."

    "Please provide a list with the attributes I''m close, let''s say those I''m already in the top 0.1%."

    **************

    Magical Micro-Control

    Magical Macro-Control

    Magical Power

    Magical Perception

    Magical Vigor

    Physical Micro-Control

    **************

    Flora started with Magical Micro-Control. She took a few attempts until she hit with all five spells the bullseye. That was enough for the achievement.

    At the Magical Macro-Control test, she learned the spell Poison Lance without wasting time gushing over it and promptly modified it to Shadow Current, which earned her the next record.

    Next, she annihilated the cute blobs without mercy and doused the flamethrower thoroughly.

    Conquering Magical Perception and Magical Vigor proved to be harder. Flora spent 15 minutes on each of them.

    For Physical Micro-Control, she had to practice the piano part so long that she memorized the keys and didn''t need Aidan''s help anymore. Then another good portion of time went by until all the knives hit the bullseye. Flora was sure the result was more fluke than skill and was happy to stop when the achievement arrived.

    "Pooh! I learned much. These exercises are great." Flora grinned. "Dearest Test, could you access my logs again for Physical Vigor and both Defenses? I used them a lot in the last week."

    **************

    No.

    **************

    "Alright, then I''m ready for the results."

    Physical Attributes | Fun | Result | Learning Curve | Average

    Power | 85 | 42 | 41 | 56

    Macro-control | 72 | 78 | 28 | 59

    Micro-control | 88 | 100 | 52 | 80

    Vigor | 92 | 63 | 24 | 60

    Regeneration | n/a | 100 | n/a | 100

    Defense | 73 | 88 | 78 | 80

    Perception | 67 | 82 | 35 | 61

    Magical Attributes | Fun | Result | Learning Curve | Average

    Power | 81 | 100 | 93 | 91

    Macro-control | 95 | 100 | 87 | 94

    Micro-control | 96 | 100 | 92 | 96

    Vigor | 87 | 100 | 75 | 87

    Regeneration | n/a | 100 | n/a | 100

    Defense | 79 | 95 | 87 | 87

    Perception | 68 | 100 | n/a | 84

    "I protest! I had no fun at all at the Physical Vigor fish bait exercise!" Flora said grinning. "Okay, maybe a bit. However, not 92 points!"

    **************

    Summary:

    All builds based on attributes higher than 80 are recommended.

    Staying Power, Magical as well as Physical Endurance and Regeneration are her most important goals.

    **************

    "Regen is not a goal. The attributes are means to the purpose." Flora commented.

    **************

    Flowing Flowers excels at magical attributes especially Intent and Design. Although she received an outstanding result at Magical Power as well, it might be caused by her other magical stats.

    Suited Roles: Healer, Support, ranged Damage Dealer.

    Suited Classes: Priest, Crafter, technological Operator, Mage.

    **************

    "I''m disappointed, though I don''t know why."

    "There will be an overall recommendation at the end of the Sweeping Blow Test. I''m disappointed with the test AI. This summary didn''t bring justice to your brilliance, Milady."

    Flora chuckled. "Next test!"

 124 2.29 SBAT â€“ Weapon Talen

    The oblong room had a white line crossing the small side near the entry. A training dummy stood on the line and others at 5 meters, 15 meters, 30 meters, and 50 meters away.

    **************

    Weapon Aptitude Test

    The weapon test has four phases per weapon:

    1. Free Trial: You may try out the weapon on an unresisting dummy(1 minute)

    2. Mannequin-Routine: You may receive a one minute long instruction via a kin-route

    3. Free Trial 2: You may try out the weapon on an unresisting dummy(1 minute)

    4. Live Test: I''ll generate a target for you

    First, I will provide you with weapons you have used before, then some you showed interest in the multiple-choice test and fitting to your primary attributes, and at last, you may wish for any weapon you want.

    Please, don''t use skills.

    You may skip or repeat any phase or weapon.

    **************

    Flora rubbed her hands. "I''m ready."

    **************

    Hand-to-Hand ¨C Free Trial

    **************

    Nothing happened. Nothing changed. Hence Flora shrugged her shoulders and punched the dummy. Then she did some Wing Chun chain punches, some elbow action, kicks, and more chain punches.

    "One minute can be quite long when you have no goal." Flora mused.

    Finally, a pedestal with a kin-route appeared accompanied by another message.

    **************

    Hand-to-Hand ¨C Mannequin Routine

    **************

    Flora touched the little statue of a fighter in a boxing pose. Inside the routine, the body performed a one-two jab combo on a sand-sack and then some kicks. If Flora had to guess, she would bet on experiencing a kick-boxer.

    **************

    Hand-to-Hand ¨C Free Trial 2

    **************

    Flora reenacted some of the movements she just learned and remembered, but skipped the rest.

    **************

    Hand-to-Hand ¨C Fight

    **************

    A blue bipedal, shaggy monster appeared in front of Flora.

    "Woa!" She jumped back. "They really love the pastel colors. Minty slimes, a fluffy pink smasher and now a baby blue colored bigfoot."

    The monster didn''t appreciate Flora''s analysis and swung at her. Flora ducked under it and chain-punched his side. Its other arm rocked towards her, and she trapped it and hit its muzzle.

    After a fourth hit, the bigfoot screamed and stumbled back while protecting its head with its arms.

    Still clutching its leg, Flora kicked out as well. Her foot smashed under his chin, and its head snapped back with a crunch.

    The monster vanished as suddenly as it had arrived.

    **************

    Intent Focus ¨C Free Trial

    **************

    A weapon rack with one scepter appeared next to Flora, who shrieked again.

    "Burned Toast! I will get a heart attack from these magical vanishing and appearing tricks!" She exclaimed. "And please give me two scepters."

    A second scepter materialized on the rack. They consisted of a silvery rod and an ornate head. When Flora picked them up, she noticed they weighed quite a bit.

    Flora hit the dummy with the damaging and healing beams and even the scepter itself, watched the kin-route, and skipped to the fight.

    This time, a monster and a knight showed up in a fifteen-meter distance.

    At first, Flora thought something had gone wrong, that the knight was her new opponent, and the Bigfoot had come back for revenge, but then they started fighting with each other. Only when the bars of the knight appeared above his head and on her HUD, she realized that the knight was on her side. So she alternated between healing the knight and pelting the monster.

    A full-sized staff with a flaming red crystal on top leaned against the rack for the next trial. Flora shot fireballs from it, and when the monster reached her, she smacked it over his head.

    "Not bad!" She grinned. "A magic club might be better, but I had to make do."

    Next came the plasma sword. "After you get over the awesomeness of wielding a light-saber, it''s a pretty shitty weapon," Flora stated while swinging the sword listlessly. "No parrying possible, no satisfying thud when you hit¡­ I don''t like it anymore."

    The bazooka raised her spirits. Explosions just had that effect on her.

    Thoroughly fed up with throwing, Flora skipped the throwing knives section as soon as she saw them.

    Next, two shields materialized on the rack.

    "Uhm, do people really fight with two shields, or are you following my wish for a weapon for each hand?"

    **************

    Both.

    **************

    "Fair enough." Flora shrugged and picked them up. The tower shields had not only spikes but also sharp edges. When she smashed them together, they functioned as a giant vertical snapping mouth.

    Flora had more fun than she had deemed possible. She enjoyed ramming the dummy and later the monster and snapping at their appendages.

    **************

    Combat-Tool ¨C Free Trial

    **************

    "Is this the first new weapon?" Flora asked. Intrigued, she picked up the gloves. They were metal, and blinking LEDs and circuitry gave them a cyberpunky look.

    "No, Milady. Your Multi-Tool Scepter counts as a combat-tool as well. You received the ability through it."

    Name: Training Combat-Tool

    Type: Combat-Tool

    Regular Mode: 2 OV Mana-Regeneration

    Built-In Skill: Shoot repair beam; Cost: 1 mana; CD: 2sec;

    Built-In Skill: Shoot EMP beam; Cost: 1 mana; CD: 2sec;

    Base Damage/Healing: 2

    Tier: 1

    Rating: C

    This time the monster was a metal robot, in Flora''s opinion, a definite upgrade. The only detriment of the combat-tool was that it damaged non-electronic enemies for half the value and only healed machines.

    **************

    Recommended Weaponry

    **************

    With two wands in her hands, Flora shot mini magic missiles at the monster. She was disappointed that it died before it had reached her. She wanted to pull off the Harry Potter trick, sticking the wand in its nose.

    After the arcane foci, Flora had to suffer through an assortment of ranged weapons. Bows, crossbow, rifle, and handgun, nothing felt right to her, and she skipped many phases.

    Next, a majestic greatsword, as tall as Flora, popped up. She picked it up and gave it a trial swing before she assaulted the dummy.

    "I love it! I want one!" Flora chirped after she split the monster in half.

    The following options weren''t to Flora''s liking.

    Daggers: "Too tiny. I don''t feel comfortable that close to my enemies. Please ignore that I don''t have the problem with hand-to-hand combat."

    Rapier: "I want a weapon and not a toothpick."

    Sword: "It feels unwieldy and awkward. Please ignore that I don''t have the problem with the greatsword."

    Spear: "Bigger toothpick equals better toothpick. However, I want to slay dragons and not work on their dental hygiene."

    Whip: "Can you please vanish the whip? Or give me some daggers to cut myself free?"

    Ax: "I''m a Lumberjack, and I''m okay, I sleep all night, and I work all day! I cut down trees; I wear high heels, a toaster, and a bra. I wish I''ve been an engineer exploiting nature''s law."

    Quarterstaff: "It doesn''t throw fireballs? Why not? That is a failed design."

    Halberd: "Too cumbersome to make lumber."

    Mace: "Ok, not bad. However, a failed opportunity like the staff. I should be able to combine a scepter and a mace. Flora likes smashing" *thud*

    **************

    Would you like to try a bone club? It''s a hybrid melee weapon and intent focus used by shamans.

    **************

    "Sounds amazing." Flora chirped, but she had to laugh when the monstrosity appeared. It was the thigh bone of a big animal. One end was whittled down for gripping, the other remained thick and was adorned by feathers. It easily reached her chest. "Let''s go tribal!"

    Because of its size, Flora picked it up with two hands. She whacked the dummy over its head and rated the thudding sound with an A. The club was surprisingly light, so Flora changed to a one-handed grip.

    Hitting the training dummy felt alright, but Flora had problems directing the beams from the massive weapon. She had swung her multi-tool and the wands for the cantrips but had only pointed the staff in the right direction. Both methods worked with the club but felt awkward one-handed.

    Watching the kin-route showed her another option. The shaman wielded the club like a rifle for the cantrips, with one hand on the grip and one hand on the shaft. For melee, the host wielded two shorter clubs at the same time and hit his opponent like a drum, then one-handed with a round shield in the off-hand and at last, two-handed.

    Flora had fun emulating the techniques on the dummy and later on the bigfoot.

    **************

    Would you like to try another weapon, repeat a trial, or see your results?

    **************

    "I want to get the Animator Class. What weapon would you recommend for it?"

    **************

    The usual mage weapons like staff or wands are fine. Some kinetic mages prefer chained weapons attuned to telekinesis.

    **************

    "Sounds intriguing. I''d like to try out those, please."

    Vicious spikes and scythes on chains appeared on the rack?only pumpkins were missing for the perfect Halloween decoration.

    Flora picked up one of the mini-scythes.

    Name: Kinetic Training Kusari Gama

    Type: Chain weapon

    Regular Mode: 1 OV Mana-Regeneration

    Built-In Feature: Attuned to telekinetic control;

    Tier: 1

    Rating: C

    Carefully, Flora swung the chain and aimed for the sickle to hit the dummy. The scythe lodged inside its torso.

    "I got this!" Flora said, swinging with more enthusiasm.

    Thirty seconds later, the whip-incident had repeated itself: Flora found herself bound by her own weapon, with the addition of the scythe sticking in her thigh. ¡ä

    "This time, I can at least use telekinesis to free me," Flora grumbled as she disentangled herself.

    The kin-route impressed Flora. Her host artfully weaved the weapon through the air, changing directions and momentum on a whim via telekinesis. Unlike Flora, he only used the end with the counter-weight for swinging around and held the sickle in his hand.

    Flora used the next free trial to imitate the host. Although she enjoyed the telekinetic tricks, it took a lot of concentration.

    The fight against the bigfoot went okay. Flora received an own-goal when she smacked herself on the shin with the weight, but managed to kill the monster.

    "Maybe I''ll get one for training, but I can''t imagine using it in a fight while casting spells and commanding companions." With a bit of regret, Flora put the weapon back on the rack.

    **************

    Would you like to try another weapon, repeat a trial, or see your results?

    **************

    "I like to finish on a high note. Anything extraordinaire you can offer?"

    **************

    Beastkin can change themselves into animal form and fight. It''s not on your list due to your low rating of nature-oriented topics. Would you like to try anyway?

    **************

    "Yes! I want to be a dragon!"

    **************

    Dragon is a tier 4 evolution of the tier-1 Wyrm. Would you like to try being a wyrm?

    **************

    "Alright." Flora wasn''t informed about dragon lore and disoriented when she changed.

    ''No appendages at all?'' It felt like her arms and legs were bound together while her spine grew flexible beyond human capacity and elongated.

    She raised her head full of sharp teeth and bit the dummy. ''Tastes like cardboard¡­'' Then she whipped her tail around and struck it. The motion felt as great as it did foreign. Flora repeated it.

    ''Left, right, left, right! Smack, smack. I love the thuds!''

    Instinctively, she felt as if she could spit something besides the usual phlegm.

    Flora sucked something behind her jaw out but then choked. Coughing, she sprayed a green substance over the melee-dummy. She sniffed on the sizzling liquid. ''Acid?''

    In the next attempt, she produced a proper acid ball and let it fly. The range was just 5 meters, but Flora was still proud that she hit the dummy in the distance.

    After the enlightening kin-route, Flora faced the bigfoot. At first, she was hesitant to bite a living being, and only spat on it and whacked it. However, she wanted to sample the whole experience, so she snapped at the bigfoot. To her astonishment, it tasted like cookies?crunchy and sweet.

    Her victory-roar sounded more like a bird''s cry, but Flora was satisfied.

    ***************

    Weapons | Fun | Result | Learning Curve | Average

    Intent Focus | 88 | 93 | 95 | 92

    Arcane Focus | 86 | 91 | 95 | 91

    Shields | 89 | 83 | 92 | 88

    Combat Tool | 78 | 84 | 94 | 85

    Elemental Focus | 81 | 92 | 82 | 85

    Bone Club | 91 | 79 | 83 | 84

    Wyrm | 92 | 81 | 79 | 84

    Greatsword | 96 | 72 | 84 | 84

    Mace | 82 | 74 | 83 | 80

    Rocket Launcher | 92 | 73 | 74 | 80

    Ax | 78 | 62 | 68 | 69

    Hand-to-Hand | 72 | 82 | 45 | 66

    Spear | 56 | 61 | 77 | 65

    Kusarigama | 57 | 62 | 65 | 61

    Quarterstaff | 63 | 61 | 52 | 59

    Daggers | 34 | 64 | 74 | 57

    Rapier | 46 | 59 | 60 | 55

    Sword | 43 | 58 | 62 | 54

    Halberd | 49 | 63 | 48 | 53

    Bow | 24 | 59 | 65 | 49

    Plasma Sword | 12 | 81 | n/a | 47

    Rifles | 14 | 39 | 83 | 45

    Handguns | 9 | 20 | 82 | 37

    Crossbow | 16 | 43 | 32 | 30

    Whip | 69 | 3 | 13 | 28

    Throwing Knives | 5 | n/a | n/a | 5

    Summary

    Flowing Flowers excels at magical weapons.

    She enjoys physical weapons with high impact, primarily if they produce "thudding" sounds and hybrid weapons.

    If Flowing Flowers'' enemies want to defeat her, I recommend giving her a whip.

    Suited Classes: Paladin, Priest, Shaman, Tinkerer, Combat Technician, Mage, Elemental Shield, Elemental Guardian, Druid, Witch.

    ***************

    "The record bonus is probably + 1 OV for the weapon ability. What are my chances, dear test? Any top 0.1 rankings?"

    ***************

    I''m not geared to compute chances. You rank in the top 1% at using Intent Foci, which is your highest position.

    ***************

    "What do you think, team? The key point for my hesitation is the question of why I rank so low, even with my stats. I don''t know what I could do better. Shouldn''t my stats carry me to the top?"

    "The test isn''t concerned with stats, Milady. The forum commenters are sure they adapt the results. The opinions differ what about what the test emphasizes instead. Some think targeting weak points or high scoring zones like the head influences the assessment; others think the test even rates your posture. I noticed you were below the maximum fire rate."

    *beep*

    "I can do it more elegantly¡­ and faster! Test, we''ll repeat the intent focus." Flora grinned, straightened, and tipped the appearing scepter to her head, before pointing it at the dummy. "Enguard!"

 125 2.30 SBAT â€“ Party Role â€“ Ranged DD

    The fairy led her to the next test, the Party Role Assessment.

    The room wasn''t much bigger than one of Flora''s boxes. Five portals and the exit lined the walls.

    **************

    Party Role Assessment

    Choose the portal to experience the party role. Follow the party leader''s orders.

    1. Group Fight

    2. Boss Fight

    3. Assessment for receiving the Legacy Class

    Use your own skills or the skills I will provide.

    Use your own equipment or the equipment I will provide.

    You may skip or repeat any phase or portal.

    **************

    "What''s a Legacy Class?"

    "Via a legacy, you get the class and all its skills without doing any learning, usually by opening a scroll, Milady. The Analyst Class Robby gave you was a legacy. In this case, each of the three main party roles has a class. You have to prove that you are mildly proficient in the execution of the position to receive the class. The assessment is very easy, Milady." Aidan said. "By the way, clan Riverstones requires of its squad members that they have two party role classes."

    "We will get all! Let''s start with the easiest." Flora inspected the signboards above the portals: Tank, Ranged DD, Melee DD, Healer, Support. "Which is the easiest?"

    "Opinions differ, Milady. However, a majority thinks Ranged DD."

    Flora nodded and went through the portal. She landed in an antechamber with weapon and equipment racks and two domineering boards.

    \u003e\u003e\u003e

    Temporary class: Arcane Mage

    Branch: Magic

    Passive: + 1 Training efficiency modifier for arcane spells

    Active: No Magical Regeneration Penalty in Combat

    STA: Magic Missiles

    AOE: Arcane Rain

    DEF: Magic Shield

    MOV: Blink

    SIG: Arcane Spring

    Taught by the Halls of Magic, Zauberberg and Branch Talpica

    Touch the board to receive the class temporarily for undertaking the test. Activate the skills by saying the name or mentally pressing the corresponding button in your HUD.

    \u003c\u003c\u003c

    "Look at the Active, Aidan! That means I have full mana reg even in combat, right? I need the class for the active bonus alone. Aito, find out whether a class with the corresponding physical reg bonus exists."

    Name: Arcane Spring

    Description: Activates Access Leylines and fills you with magical energy. Your spells cost half the mana and produce more damage. Moving won''t break the effect.

    Cooldown: 5 minutes.

    Duration: 10 seconds.

    Range: Self

    Flora touched the sign, and five buttons for the spells appeared in her head-up display. Curious, she pressed against Magic Missiles with her mind. Blue silver energy sprang out of her hand and hit the floor and her thigh.

    "Woa!" Flora shrieked and jumped to the side while her hand shot uncontrolled missiles through the room. "Make it stop!"

    The spell ended, and Flora regulated her breathing.

    "Horrible, just horrible. The worst way to cast spells by far!" Flora muttered while waiting for her heart to calm down. "Don''t they know that dangerous buttons should be colored red?"

    "I can change their color, if you like, Milady."

    "I''m just trying to deflect my own stupidity, dear; no need for changes."

    Flora tested the buttons again and also the voice activation.

    "That won''t do. I want the class and the real spells." Flora opened her skills. "Do we have any arcane spells as templates?"

    "All spells are arcane, Milady. The category is for skills, which have no elemental effects and don''t operate directly with the subject or object. There is no Arcane Affinity, either."

    "Kind of a residual wastebasket? Oh no, I don''t want to call my sweet little darlings waste." Flora inspected Acid Ball. "I just cut out all the elemental stuff, and we''ll see what happens."

    \u003cMagic Missiles\u003e

    **************

    You gained a new skill: Magic Missiles.

    Description: Pure magic to hurt your enemies.

    Cooldown: None

    Range: 15 meter

    Spell gets integrated into your "Magic Bolt" skill.

    **************

    Flora repeated the action for Magic Rain and Magic Shield.

    "One more needed for acquiring the class. Hmm." Flora analyzed 7-Mile-Step, but her experience with Trick skills was low, and she couldn''t identify the different components of the diagram. "We have to ask somebody for it. That cute blond friend of Mia with the impressive ice elemental knows it, but I would prefer contacting someone from the clan. Who might have the spell?"

    "BBQ Grillmaster 99%, Ponda Pottom 75%, Dice Swifticle 75%. I haven''t included the members of squad 3-2 in the analysis because I thought you prefer to contact people you already know."

    "Excellent. Call BBQ."

    "Heeeeeellllloooooo?" Grillmaster appeared in Flora''s communication window in slow motion.

    "Oh, dang. I''m in time dilation!" Flora exclaimed. She concentrated on speaking slow and precise. "Huhu, dear. I want to trade for Blink. I have all the elemental standard spells. Are you interested?"

    "I''m sorry, Ma''am. I''m busy at the moment. Can we speak another time about it?"

    "Sure. Or could you show it to me for 5 seconds, and I owe you a favor additionally to the spell?"

    "Uhm¡­ okay."

    The firehealer opened the diagram for Flora.

    \u003cBlink\u003e

    Flora vanished and reappeared two meters away, flashing a thumbs up. She wiped the system messages about the mage class away and thanked BBQ before ending the call.

    "Aidan, get rid of the temporary stuff and integrate the new class in my tree."

    "We can connect it through Magical Healer if you would unlock the arcane healing spells, Milady."

    After Flora cast the required skills, she looked at the second board. It provided the temporary skills for the Marksperson class. Because Flora already had it, she turned to the equipment racks.

    Flora skipped the bows and guns and looked at the foci. They were all C-rated, so she just sniffed at them and fetched the Wavering Wave Ring and her Plasma-Sword Lightning Focus.

    On a mannequin hang a light blue robe, a conical head, gloves, and slippers. They provided 8 OV Magical Micro-Control and + 1 damage to arcane spells as a set bonus. Next to it stood a mannequin with a red robe, 8 OV Magical Power, and + 1 OV to elemental spells. Flora donned the latter.

    "Should I fetch the octopussies and the mech-suit, or pretend to be a regular elemental mage?" Flora mused.

    "You should show the test everything you are cable of doing as a ranged damage dealer, Milady. So maybe not the mech-suit, but the octopussies, the turrets, and an elemental would be fitting."

    8 MR/min Aito-Octopussy

    8 MR/min Aidan-Octopussy

    4 MR/min for four Turrets

    5 MR/min Bliz

    1 MR/min Wavering Wave Ring

    1 MR/min Onyx Lightning

    After Flora arranged her setup and buffed Aito with Tinker, she walked through the next portal, entering a cavern.

    One male Fireling with a shield, two female Woodlings, one with daggers and one with a bow, and a male Waterling in a Robe awaited her. On the other end of the room, five pale yellow colored insectoid monsters patrolled.

    "Okay, team. Wait until I''ve caught their attention. I''ll mark the focus target, gun it down. Mind your aggro. Ready?" The Fireling said.

    "Yes!" The rest of the team yelled.

    "Hello?" Flora said, looking between them. She waved tentatively. "I''m new. Nice to meet you."

    "Okay, team. Wait until I''ve caught their attention. I''ll mark the focus target, gun it down. Mind your aggro. Ready?" The Fireling repeated.

    "Yes!" The rest of the team yelled.

    "Um, okay?" Flora said.

    Before she could add anything else, the tank charged at the group.

    Flora shrugged helplessly but was ready to try out her new favorite spell.

    \u003cArcane Spring\u003e!

    A target butt appeared above the smallest insectoid.

    \u003cLightning Bolt\u003e!

    As soon as the spell left her hand, she cast the next one.

    \u003cLightning Bolt\u003e!

    The first lightning crashed into the marked target, and the spell jumped over to his neighbor.

    \u003cLightning Bolt\u003e!

    After the next bolt spread, four of the monsters turned around to Flora with clicking mandibles.

    "Oops." Flora''s eyes widened as the monsters approached.

    "Run, Milady!"

    Flora dropped her plasma-sword in shock and dashed away.

    "To the tank, Milady, always run to the tank!"

    "But there are monsters!"

    "He will save you."

    "I don''t need anyone to save me! I''m a grown woman I can save myself. We do the stringy thingy as we did with the trash elementals."

    "Kiting? Two ranged fighters are in the mix; you can''t kite those in the small cave. Running to the tank is the standard practice because otherwise, you''ll destroy the formation."

    Flora changed direction to the Fireling. He had already followed her, leaving the two spike shooting insects alone. Her original target was dead, but two melee insectoids followed the tank and hit him on his unprotected back.

    The Woodlings concentrated on one of them, and the insect attacked the dagger-woman.

    \u003cKinetic Breath\u003e

    Flora pushed the two insects closer to their ranged mates. One of the latter had changed targets to the Waterling Healer.

    Chaos ensued while Flora helplessly cast Bless and Condemn while dodging blows and spikes.

    In the end, the team survived, but they weren''t happy with Flora.

    "What didn''t you understand about ''mind your aggro''?" The tank snapped at her.

    "Sorry. Puh. What happened?"

    "You stole the aggro of the marked target and three of his friends. Because the Tank had to follow them, he couldn''t block their damage. The healer had to work twice as hard and earned the hate of the monsters because of that. So everybody besides the Archer was under attack, but the opponents were too spread out for the tank to regain control." Aidan explained. "I suggest you retry the phase, Milady."

    Flora agreed, and she reappeared in the anteroom.

    "So, what can I change? I won''t use Arcane Spring and the Onyx Lightning focus. Is that enough?"

    "Because your damage is so great, probably not. Maybe, Aito can mark the target when it''s safe to use spells, and at the other times, you just shoot cantrips."

    *beep*

    Aito generated a narrow red arrow over the training dummy. Then she let it grow bigger and more orange.

    "The bigger the shaft, the harder I can go?"

    *beeheheheep*

    Flora rolled her eyes. "You know what I''ve meant!" Flora exclaimed, but grinned. She grabbed the elemental focus from the rack. "Again."

    "Okay, team. Wait until I''ve caught their attention. I''ll mark the focus target, gun it down. Mind your aggro. Ready?" The Fireling said.

    "Yes!" The team yelled, and Flora joined in.

    The Fireling charged. When the target butt appeared above the head of the smallest insect, Aito''s smallest arrow pointed at it.

    Tentatively, Flora sent a damaging cantrip from her new focus. Nonetheless, the arrow grew thicker, and she dared to use the Wavering Wave Ring as well. Unfortunately, the growth stopped there. The indicator even diminished when the Fireling stomped on the ground.

    It took a few seconds more until the arrow finally widened and turned orange.

    \u003cLightning Bolt\u003e

    The insect died when Flora''s spell hit.

    "What now? AoE?" Flora asked eagerly.

    "No, Milady," Aidan answered as the next target butt appeared on a mantis-like insect that attacked with two spikes. Aito''s smallest mark followed.

    "Boring," Flora said, but dutifully only used the cantrips of her foci.

    "You have to be kidding me, Aito!" Flora complained after a few more seconds with no change in the size of the indicator.

    *farting beep*

    The arrow changed when the insect was nearly dead again.

    For the next target, Flora worked on her focus swinging speed. Aito only allowed her to cast the death blow.

    Flora inspected her teammates. Jealously, she watched them casting skills.

    This time the arrow changed sooner, but the insect still died from Flora''s spell.

    Aito graciously allowed Flora to cast spells for the last opponent. After the second lightning bolt, it turned to Flora, but then the tank roared, and it stayed on him.

    "Good job, Flowing Flowers." The Waterling healer said. "We can definitely kill the boss with your damage."

    Flora coughed. "Thanks," she said and added her gratitude to Aito silently.

    They walked through a tunnel towards a larger cavern. A hive queen surrounded by eggs sat in the middle.

    "Okay, team. Wait until I''ve established the hate. Focus the eggs as soon as they change color. If you are too slow, AoE the hatchlings. Ranged, dodge the webs. Melee, run away from the acid. Ready?" The Fireling said.

    "Yes!" The team yelled while Flora searched for webs.

    "Aidan, tell me when to dodge. I can''t find any webs." Flora said as her team stared at her. "Ready."

    "Under my command!" The Fireling pointed at Flora.

    "What? I have behaved at the last group!" Flora sulked because she had invested a tremendous amount of self-control, but the tank didn''t appreciate it.

    After the Fireling charged the hive queen, a gigantic orange arrow appeared above her head.

    "That''s what I like!" Flora cheered.

    \u003cArcane Spring\u003e!

    \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e!

    \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    Flora went all out.

    "Dodge, Milady."

    \u003cI bow to you and Roll with it.\u003e

    Flora dived to the side, and a web sailed to the spot she had just vacated.

    When she looked back to the boss, the arrow was gone.

    "What should I do?"

    "The egg, Milady."

    Flora spotted Aitos indicator above an egg, which slowly turned violet. The Archer and her companions were already shooting at it. With a lightning bolt, Flora cracked the shell.

    Aito''s arrow went back to the hive queen, and Flora shot thorns at her.

    Suddenly, the little icon of turret 3 dulled. One of the towers was bound in webbing, but Aito cut it free while still firing at the queen with her eyes and other tentacles.

    Pimples sprouted on the hive queen. As they grew, the Woodling dashed away. Because neither the healer nor the archer moved, Flora continued attacking. Like mini volcanos, the pimples exploded and drenched the tank in puss.

    "Ugh!" Flora cast a healing water ball on the tank out of compassion.

    The arrow changed to another egg, and Flora cracked it with two lightning bolts before the melee fighter even left the boss.

    The arrow on the boss was getting thinner, so Flora tried out Lightning Arc, her new beam spell. With the other hand, she prayed for mana. It worked, the arrow grew again, and Flora reverted to casting Thorn Cannon.

    After demolishing another egg and another puss attack, the Fireling yelled: "Give it your all."

    While the robots activated Rapid-Fire, Flora needed a moment to remember a method to raise her game.

    \u003cSuper-Charge\u003e

    Time slowed, and Flora cast with one hand Lightning Arc and with the other, she rained Lightning Bolts on the boss.

    Just when Flora started to cackle, the queen turned her head to her.

    "Oh no, not again!" Flora started to run, but Aidan interrupted her.

    "You can stay, Milady."

    As he finished his message, the hive queen turned back to the Fireling.

    Aito''s arrow was still orange, so Flora returned to casting.

    Soon afterward, the hive queen fell to the ground.

    "Just the way I like my runs, everyone alive and no emergency cooldowns needed." The healer beamed.

 126 2.31 SBAT â€“ Party Role â€“ Damage Dealer

    ****************

    Ranged DD Result

    Damage: 99

    Aggro Management: 95

    Tactic Compliance: 93

    Fun: 72

    Contribution: 46 %: 92

    Adherence: 99

    Average: 92

    Summary

    Flowing Flowers is very suited as a ranged damage dealer.

    The control over her companions is exceptional, or is it the other way around?

    Suited Classes: Robot Handler, Tinkerer, Divine Companion, Animator, Summoner, Necromancer.

    ****************

    Flora chuckled, but Aito beeped angrily.

    "What''s up, dear? Not satisfied with your exceptional control over me?"

    The AI highlighted the row with the 95 aggro management.

    *farting beep*!

    "I did my best, sweety."

    *beep beep* *beep!*

    "Oh, you don''t feel the test judged our work correctly¡­ hmm." Flora mused. "Dear test, could you elaborate on the assessment?"

    ****************

    Your damage was the highest ever recorded for a level 1 without the damage dealer class, but I subtracted a point because it was less than you could have done if you dared to go closer to the aggro limit.

    With the help of your AI, you managed to stay under the hate of the tank, but I subtracted points because you would have failed terribly without their help, and you overdrew the aggro on the end of two fights. Your AI probably calculated the last one because she knew that the boss would fall within the time limit of Taunt. Therefore I only docked one point.

    I subtracted points on tactic compliance because one switch to an egg took too long, and your turret didn''t dodge the web, your elemental didn''t attack the eggs, and you wasted seconds of Under My Command.

    Although you had fun generally, you didn''t enjoy the discipline necessary for aggro-control. When you play with better tanks, use the skills for aggro control, or when you level more (your stats will mellow out compared to other players), your satisfaction with the Ranged DD position might rise.

    You contributed 79% of the damage, a bit of the aggro, removed a debuff from the tank, and healed him.

    Besides one healing spell, you only used skills adhering to the Ranged DD role.

    Robot Handler and Tinker are the number one suggestions because you can use your excellent AIs. Divine Companion and Necromancer because of your affinity for intent bases spells and weapons. Summoner and Animator because of your love for magic in general.

    ****************

    "Thank you! What a constructive explanation. Are you satisfied, Aito?"

    *beep¡­* Aito agreed hesitantly.

    "What is Under My Command? I thought the tank was admonishing me, but your capitalization reads like a skill."

    ****************

    Name: Under My Command

    Branch: Meta

    Cooldown: 5 min

    Duration: 10 sec

    Range: 15 meters

    Duration: Depending on Skill OV

    The skill is part of the Legacy Tank Standard Skillset.

    ****************

    "Nice! A pity that the cooldown is so long. If you could use it for every group, I could go all out with AoE."

    A shimmering parcel materialized in front of Flora''s nose.

    "I''m finally getting used to sudden appearances! Okay, now I might have jinxed it for the next occurrence." Confidently, Flora grabbed it out of the air and read the text on the waxen seal: "Legacy of the Damage Dealer."

    When she opened it, a slew of messages bombarded her HUD as the scroll dissolved in motes of light.

    ****************

    Class: Damage Dealer

    Branch: Meta

    Passive: + 1 Training efficiency modifier for damaging skills

    Active: - Choose your Tank: Designate a Group Member as Defender. 1% Aggro Transfer.

    STA: Transfer STA

    Description: The aggro of the next damaging Single Target Skill gets transferred to the Tank

    CD: 1 minute

    AOE: Transfer AOE

    Description: The aggro of the next damaging AoE Skill gets transferred to the Tank

    CD: 1 minute

    DEF: Fade

    Description: Lowers the aggro of your opponents against you over time

    CD: 25 sec

    Duration: 10 secs

    MOV: Hide Behind The Tank

    Description: Teleports you behind the Tank

    CD: 25 sec

    SIG: Fight to your heart''s content

    Description: (Boost) Transfers a part of your aggro and your received damage to a friendly target.

    CD: 1 hour

    ****************

    "Oh, wow, these skills would have been so helpful during the trial. May I use them during the Melee DD test?"

    ****************

    If you want a direct comparison to your Ranged DD results, then I don''t recommend it, if you wish to try out the challenge, yes.

    ****************

    "Should I even take the melee test? I already have the class¡­ on the other hand, I want to know my affinity for it, and it will be a nice warm-up for the tank test. How much time do we have until the Animator course starts?"

    "Two and a half hours. They were reserved for your nap, Milady."

    "I did sleep a bit on the nail bed. My sense of time is messed up with all the time dilation shenanigans. It feels like I spent a whole workday here."

    "2h 53min multiple-choice test, 3h 47min Attributes, 2h 28min Weapons, 25min Ranged DD, 19min transfer between domes. That''s 9.9 hours, Milady. Friedhilde only adjusted the time-flow to 2:1."

    "Maybe I should ask the fairy to increase the dilation¡­ But I don''t want to. I''m well acclimated to the 3:1 dilation, but it still feels a bit like I''m drunk?the early stage where you think you are sober¡­ I feel drunkenly sober? Does that make sense?"

    "No, Milady."

    "Well, you go to a party, you drink a bit, you go home, and you think you are fine. Then you make yourself a nice cheese toast, you bite into it, and then you notice that you had put Nutella under the cheese." Flora said.

    "That wouldn''t happen to me, Milady."

    "Well, you''re just one week old, wait until you are a teenager." Flora grinned. "Back to our time management. I find these tests fascinating. We should do them thoroughly and disregard our plans. Remind me again 25 minutes before the Animator course will start. If we are close to finishing, I might skip a few steps; if not, we take the lesson tomorrow."

    Flora entered the next portal.

    Two boards hung on the wall again, one for Warrior and one for Cutthroat. Flora wasn''t interested in the latter because skills like Backstab sounded too cowardly. She owned Warrior but hadn''t connected it to her tree.

    "You could acquire Elemental Fist. It is suitable for all bludgeoning weapons. Via Bulgeoning Master, you could connect Warrior to the Elemental Mage. Dice Icicle, the brother of Zapple and Mia''s squad-mate, probably has both. Another option would be obtaining Shield Master and Elemental Shield. The test has mentioned the latter class in your recommendations. Jelonso Emba, Ressa''s squadmate, possesses them. You might need to do quests to receive the classes. There are quests to unlock connections for ''Weapon Master'' classes for Priest: Staff and Bludgeoning Master, Paladin: Sword and Bulgeoning Master, and Mage: Staff Master."

    Flora inspected the Warrior skills. "Please change the display. I want range, duration, and cooldown visible, and you can delete the rating for skills because it''s in all cases SSS."

    "Yes, Milady. I suggest we add the standard cast time and tier as well. We can mask the OV column, too. Only the modded Operative Value is of importance."

    ____ Name | Tier | CD | Rng | Dur | Casttime | LV | Mod | MOV

    STA: Power Strike | 1 | 0 | T | I | 2 | 33 | 0 | 19

    AOE: Power Sweep | 1 | 0 | T | I | 2 | 33 | 0 | 19

    DEV: Guard | 1 | 25s | S | 10s | I | 33 | 0 | 19

    MOV: Charge | 1 | 25s | 15 | I | I | 33 | 0 | 19

    SIG: Battle Cry | 1 | 1m | S | 10 | 2 | 33 | 0 | 19

    "I''m ignoring all the letters in places where numbers should be¡­" Flora smiled wrily. "The Charge Skill looked like fun when the Fireling did it. With Power Strike, we have an attack without a cooldown. Does it have a secondary effect?"

    "Bleed, Milady. You have the Blood affinity to make it stronger."

    Flora inspected the signature skill, Battle Cry.

    Name: Battle Cry

    Description: Raises the Regeneration of Friends, lowers the Regeneration of Enemies.

    Cooldown: 1 min.

    Duration: 10 sec.

    "The longer I''m in the game, the less satisfied I''m with the descriptions. ''Raises''! ''Lowers''! How can I gauge whether it''s a good skill if I don''t know how significant the effects are?" Flora complained. "And don''t get me started on assessing the affinities and attributes! How can I know whether an attribute is important if I don''t know what skills they are influencing?"

    "You get shown only the shortest version, because you wanted to mask the other information, Milady. You requested that last week. The formulas are available for all skills, either provided by the Cetviwos or the users."

    "Oops. Add the math, Affinity, and most significant Attribute for each skill. Display the latter in the skill-table as well."

    Name: Battle Cry

    Description: Raises the Regeneration of Friends, lowers the Regeneration of Enemies.

    Cooldown: 1 min.

    Range: Self

    Duration: 10 sec

    Cost: 10 mana

    Area: Spherical with the caster in the center. Diameter: OV of ( OV Physical Power + OV Sonic Affinity) in meter, max 100 meters. Currently: 30m.

    Attribute: Physical Power

    Affinity: Sonic

    Effect: Raises the Regeneration of Friends up to OV of ([OV Artifact] + OV Physical Power + OV Skill) * (Target Tier / 4). Doubles Regenerations OV. Currently: + 4-5 to Physical and Magical Regeneration resulting in 76 OV PReg and 74 OV MReg for 10 sec.

    Effect: Lowers the Regeneration of Enemies up to OV of ([OV Artifact] + OV Physical Power + OV Skill) * (Target Tier / 4).

    "What a mess!" Flora looked at the formulas and shook her head. "I didn''t expect to see the target''s tier in there¡­ and the affinity plays no role in the effect? Is that typical?"

    "The inclusion of the target''s tier is only common with buffs. The Affinity plays a role in the lowest possible value the buff can generate. If you had an OV higher than 17 in Sonic Affinity, you would always generate + 5 OV. The differences are more significant at higher levels."

    "Haha, I sense the work of our special friend, the administrator. I bet someone had buffed up a newbie to the gills and send him on adventures." Flora regretted she was too late to do it herself. "Let''s go back to the topic at hand. I believe Warrior will do. Nonetheless, I want a nice weapon for the test, something like the bone club."

    Flora walked to the weapon racks but found only nonmagical weapons. Just as she wanted to ask the test for a bone club, she got another idea and fetched the multitool-scepter. With a flick of her wrist, she changed the top to a wrench.

    Flora smacked the training dummy over the head.

    \u003cPower Strike\u003e!

    \u003cSmite\u003e

    "Did both skills work with the correct bonuses?"

    "Yes, Milady."

    "Excellent!" Smitten, Flora stared at the wrench in her hand. The handle of the multitool remained the same, but the upper part was now as long as her arm. She had cursed about the magical interior mechanics of the multitool when she had tinkered with it, but she couldn''t deny the awesomeness.

    After fetching a second multitool-scepter for the left hand and donning an armor set that raised her Physical Power, she was ready to smack more heads.

    Flora looked over her team of 2 octopussies, 4 turrets, and one ice elemental and focused on the latter.

    "Bliz, dear, follow Aidan''s lead. Only shoot when he shoots and choose the same target. Use your other spells to protect you."

    The icicle shaped elemental swung rapidly back and forth with such enthusiasm that Flora feared it would smash its not-existing nose on the ground.

    The same team of Natives and the same group of insectoids awaited her.

    "Okay, team. Wait until I''ve caught their attention. I''ll mark the focus target, gun it down. Mind your aggro. Ready?" The Fireling tank said.

    "Yes!" Flora yelled with the team.

 127 2.32 SBAT â€“ Party Role â€“ Melee

    Flora used Charge for the first time consciously and thoroughly enjoyed the rush, until she crashed into the target. In the last second, she protected her face, so only her elbows collided with the insect.

    Smoothly, Flora came to a halt. Surprised by the gentle deceleration, she stared at the insect. It looked terrifying from this close.

    The mantis-like creature had raised its arms in the air and snapped with the scythes at the tank. The triangular head sported glowing feelers and two uncanny, large eyes. It ended in pointy mandibles.

    If it were just one monster, Flora wouldn''t be as intimidated. But surrounded by five of them, all of them taller than her, and only accompanied by the unfamiliar Fireling, Flora felt unsafe.

    Name: Yellow Mantisect Mender

    Role: Healer

    Level: 1

    Rating: D

    RGS: 5

    Tentatively, she smacked the insect. First, her hits were more pokes than strikes, but when the mantis kept ignoring her, she gained confidence.

    \u003cPower Strike\u003e!

    Aito''s arrow shrank as Flora''s strikes intensified.

    When the dagger girl suddenly appeared next to her, Flora shrieked. She was a bit startled but knew that her class was a sneaky one, and the Woodling could use stealth.

    After a short struggle with herself, Flora designated the Fireling as her tank. It just wasn''t in her to let skills lie idle, and the opponents were lined up perfectly for her breath skill.

    \u003cTransfere AoE\u003e

    \u003cLightning Breath\u003e!

    When the Mender died, the Fireling hit the next insectoid. It was taller than the first by a head, and its scythes doubled in length.

    Name: Yellow Mantisect Slicer

    Role: Melee DD

    Level: 1

    Rating: D

    RGS: 5

    The third melee mantis screeched, and a status effect appeared on Flora''s HUD.

    Battle Cry: Cowed: - 2 OV Physical and Magical Regeneration; Remaining Time: 10 sec.

    ''Oh, yeah? So, you call that a Battle Cry?''

    "For the Toasters!" Flora screamed. \u003cBattle Cry\u003e

    Battle Cry: Emboldened: + 5 OV Physical and Magical Regeneration; Doubled Regenariotion; Remaining Time: 10 sec.

    Flora checked that none of the enemies targeted her and returned to smashing the Slicer, although she had to take two steps to reach it.

    When Flora heard rustling behind her, her head whipped around. But it was only one of the ranged insects, which was repositioning itself. Flora had stood in its line of sight to the tank.

    ''Interesting.''

    After they had killed the slicer, the Fireling ignored the third melee insect and went to the spike shooting ones.

    "Is there a reason for the sequence of his targeting, Aidan?" Flora asked while she ran behind them.

    "Wow, there are a lot more tactics involved than I''d have thought. We''ll have to speak about Aggro later. I''m not sure I have understood the topic fully."

    \u003cFade\u003e

    The party defeated the rest of the insects and continued to the boss cavern.

    "Okay, team. Wait until I''ve established the hate. Focus on the eggs as soon as they change color. If you are too slow, AoE the hatchlings. Ranged, dodge the webs. Melees, run away from the acid. Ready?" The Fireling said.

    "Yes!"

    Flora thumped the boss, desperately trying to ignore the snapping maw in front of her. She used Transfer STA and Fade again. When an egg changed its color, she Smote it, because she figured it would be faster than running to it, and she needed her movement-skill cooldowns for escaping the puss explosion?Blink for escaping, Charge for approaching.

    After the boss fell, the usual evaluation popup appeared.

    ****************

    Melee DD Result

    Damage 98

    Aggro Management 98

    Tactic Compliance 100

    Fun 86

    Contribution: 51 % 100

    Adherence 79

    Average 94

    Summary:

    While Flowing Flowers did a great job as a melee damage dealer, she regularly used ranged skills. A mixed or hybrid DD build will satisfy her more.

    Suited Classes: Shaman, Paladin, Tinkerer, Elemental Fist, Druid, Martial Monk, Cultivator, Battle Alchemist, Witch.

    ****************

    "Alright, what''s next, Aidan?"

    "The opinions differ, whether tank or healer is the most demanding job. For your current stats and available support class, Radiant Practitioner, support might be the most difficult because you accumulate aggro through damage, buffing, and healing."

    "I wanted to speak about aggro¡­ Let me explain what I understood so far, and you''ll correct and complement." Flora said. She paused to collect her thoughts. "Aggro determines who the opponents attack?the higher the aggro, the higher the chance to get attacked."

    "Yes, Milady."

    "You generate aggro because of damage. I can understand that. I would get aggressive as well when someone hits me. However, you told me healing generates aggro as well?"

    "Yes, Milady."

    "Hmm. Okay, let''s imagine someone slaps me." Unwillingly, the image of Hub''s mother, Birgit, came to Flora''s mind. The hand of the red-haired woman collided with Flora''s face, her floral scarf trailing the movement. Flora slapped back, but just when she was about to hit, a shimmering shield protected the chubby woman. Hub''s grinning face appeared in the background of the fantasy scene. "Okay, let''s kill the healer."

    "Milady?"

    "Nevermind, I have understood why healers are annoying. Let''s switch to tanks. How do they attract the hate of the opponents? They can''t out-damage the specialists, right?"

    "Mainly by preventing damage, Milady?either actively through defensive skills or abilities like dodging or blocking or passively through armor. Every point of damage you prevent counts double towards your aggro score."

    Flora imagined Birgit blocking her slap with her knitting needles while spotting the cocky grin all Steins seemed to be born with. Annoyance rose in Flora. "I get it¡­ Tell me more about how aggro gets quantified."

    "1 damage = 1 aggro,

    1 healed = 1 aggro,

    1 mana, stamina or concentration added = 1 aggro,

    1 temporary pool points added = 1 aggro,

    1 damage prevented = 2 aggro,

    1 damage reflected = 2 aggro,

    1 OV debuffed = 5 aggro,

    1 OV buffed during combat = 1 aggro,

    1 debuff cleared = aggro of the debuff,

    Interrupting = aggro of the interrupted skill or ability,

    Crowd control = variable amount of aggro.

    Additionally, there are skills for aggro-management."

    "If I use Fortification of Faith on the tank, will the aggro it generates go to me or the tank?"

    "To you, Milady."

    "Even if there is no sign that I cast it? I can do it silently and not wave my scepter around." Flora demonstrated her inconspicuous casting ability. Afterward, she was happy that nobody but her AIs witnessed it. Jake Heavenstormer had been a bad influence.

    "Even then. If the combat log attributes the skill to you, then it assigns the corresponding aggro to you."

    Flora breathed a sigh of relief that she didn''t have to act sneaky.

    "Okay, we''ll try out tank next. I want to see how much hate I can collect when I go all out."

    The boards in the antechamber offered two classes, Shield-Master, and Tank Expert. The latter was for Batticle Drivers.

    Flora still felt claustrophobic when she remembered the cabin of Mia''s Batticle. The three machines the test provided for her didn''t look any roomier. Of course, that didn''t hinder her from crawling all over them. She even tried to open the access slots to the motors, but the mean test didn''t let her. Although their innards tempted her to torch them open, she refrained because of the time restrictions. Instead, she told Aidan to write acquiring toys on her general todo-list.

    \u003e\u003e\u003e

    Temporary class: Shield Master

    Branch: Warrior

    Passive: + 1 Training efficiency modifier for ability blocking and shield

    Active: Bonus to all shield skills

    STS: Shield Bash

    AOE: Shield Cyclone

    DEF: Shield Wall

    MOV: Battering Ram

    SIG: Physical Defense Boost.

    Taught by the Warroom in Fortend and its branch in Talpica

    Touch the board to receive the class temporarily for undertaking the test. Activate the skills by saying the name or mentally pressing the corresponding button in your HUD.

    \u003c\u003c\u003c

    Although Shield Bash had a long cooldown with 25sec, it had a chance to interrupt the casting of skills, which made it remarkable in Flora''s opinion. Shieldwall was literally a wall of shields, Battering Ram a version of Charge, and the Defense Boost self-explanatory.

    Shield Cyclone stood out to Flora.

    Name: Shield Cyclon

    Description: Creates shields between every enemy and every group member.

    Cooldown: none.

    Range: Self

    Duration: channeled

    Cost: 5 mana/sec

    Area: Spherical with the caster in the center. Diameter: OV of OV Blocking in meter, max 30 meters. Currently: 14m.

    Attribute: Power

    Ability: Blocking

    Effect: Blocks (OV Power + OV Skill) Percent of the damage, but only up to (OV Power + OV Skill)/3 damage. Currently: Blocks 23%-33% but only up to 11 damage.

    "Okay, sounds great. But why isn''t it specified whether its Magical or Physical Power, and why is there no affinity mentioned?"

    "It draws on the highest power attribute. Hence the skill is useful for physical and magical classes. Many of the warrior, trick, crafting, technological, and survival skills use Ability instead of Affinity in the formulas. As a rule of thumb, you can distinguish them by whether they have a secondary effect or not."

    "Does the gibberish under Effect mean that when a giant toaster falls on my head, let''s say for 1000 damage and I have this skill active, only 11 damage would be blocked and not 270-330 damage? Where does the divider 3 come from?"

    "Yes, Milady. All AoE effects usually have a divider. It depends on the area of the AoE and the effect. Of your current skills, Bless and Condemn is off the worst with 5 because it affects enemies and allies while the damage of Bouncing Element only gets divided by 2 because it affects enemies in a straight line."

    "I kind of suspected that. My intuition told me not to use AoE when there is only one target." Flora grinned. "And sorry for the unrealistic example. No toaster would ever dare to fall on my head."

    Flora called Hub for the Shield Master Class. Although she received all the skills, the class didn''t form because she had to do a quest for it. As payment, she promised Hub to help him prank the whole clan. Flora felt like she had sold her soul. ''What I do for skills¡­''

    Next, Flora opened her skill tab to look for suitable tanking skills.

    "I''ll charge in with Battering Ram. Then I''ll channel Lightning Storm with one hand and cast Bless and Condemn with the other while swinging my wrench around and trying to block as much as possible. Of course, I''ll wear a mech-suit and a shield. Should I boost myself as well? What do you think?"

    "That would work, Milady. However, it''s not a tanking approach. You can only pull it off because of your stats. Your HP will fluctuate a lot at the beginning and make the healer nervous. So, I advise you to cast a defensive skill before you charge. Additionally, it''s not sustainable. The mana expenditure is too high because of Bless and Condemn. You could mix in Righteous Strike for mana. The skill generates hate in the whole group because of the gained mana. Using boosts is the standard practice for tanks."

    "What kind of boost? Isn''t the Def boost too low leveled to be effective? What would be the usual approach for someone with my skills?"

    "I agree, at the moment, the Strength Boost would be better. Armor (Mech-Suit) -\u003e Battering Ram -\u003e Retribution -\u003e Channeling Shield Cyclone."

    "Retribution reflects blocked damage, and the Shield Cyclone blocks damage. I like the synergy. However, with only 11 damage blocked, how much damage would retribution do? Probably just a fraction of it." Flora went to the armors. The test had provided a mech-suit.

    "You have four layers of defense in total: the Cyclone, your shield, the mech-suit, and your Defense Stat + the Defense of the armor. The latter is negligible, but the mech suit alone reduces half the damage without any cap. I estimate that you could reflect around 6 damage per weapon attack with retribution, around 10 when they use skills."

    "And Lightning Storm and Bless and Condemn?" Flora said while equipping the mech-suit. It was bulky and unwieldy. She figured it had better defensive stats than her Messenger, but she disliked the movement restrictions.

    "Around 41 damage and 27 damage, respectively."

    "That sounds superior to me. However, I concede the point you made about my stats to you, and of course, I don''t want a panicky healer. What about the marking thing the Fireling did? Should I use Mark or Tag for it?" On the next rack, Flora found padded under-armor, sporting +8 OV Physical Vigor and + 1 OV Mech-Suits. She put it on, and exchanged the tanky mech-suit with the Messenger Mech-Suit.

    "The tank class has a high aggro skill which automatically sets the mark, but you can assign marks over the interface. I can do it for you."

    "Great. Armor (Mech-Suit) -\u003e Battering Ram -\u003e Retribution -\u003e Channel Shield Wall with the left hand, Channel Lightning Storm with the right hand. Oh no, better, channel Hail with the right hand. Because of the cold effect, the enemies will be slowed, which might be less confusing for me than standing in a lightning storm and make it easier to block their attacks."

    \u003cStrength-Boost\u003e

    "Wonderful idea, Milady. Please beware, your mana will be empty within 20 seconds."

    "When my mana-pool is at 30%, notify me, I''ll do a Battle Cry then and switch to Righteous Strike." Flora fiddled with her nocks.

    "Why 30%, Milady? Battle Cry and your Mana Regeneration isn''t high enough to profit from the Third Wind Milestone."

    "But they will someday, so I''ll train for the future." Flora was still plugging jacks in and out of her nocks. She was used to wearing Mana-Reg Clothing. With 10 Mana-Reg missing, she wasn''t sure where to short.

    With regret, she dismissed Bliz and Aidan''s Octopussy. Because the turrets were cheap with only 1 MR/min, she kept the two damaging turrets out and added a repairing turret. The healer should be able to repair, because of the mech-suit and batticle the test provided, but Flora wanted to have a fall-back.

    20 Total Nocks

    0 Elementals

    3 Weapons

    0 Artifacts

    10 Boost

    0 Aura

    33 Sum Total

    Grabbing a shield, Flora took a deep breath. "Let''s be hateful!"

 128 2.33 SBAT â€“ Party Role â€“ Tank

    "Huhu, dears! I''m your new tank!" Although Flora was beaming because she used the right terminology for the job, the Natives only nodded at her.

    Deflated, Flora tried to remember the sentence. "Okay, team. Wait until I''ve set the mark. Err¡­ Kill the healer first¡­ There was something else¡­ Oh well, just toast them to ash. Ready?"

    "Yes!" The team yelled.

    Flora repeated the steps in her mind, but couldn''t keep the rotation straight out of nervosity. "Aito, display the skills we agreed on."

    The AI complied, and Flora started.

    \u003cArmor: Mech-Suit\u003e

    \u003cBattering Ram: Mender\u003e

    Flora crashed with her shield into the insectoid, which buckled under the pressure.

    Just when Flora started to panic and cast Bless and Condemn, because she didn''t remember the next spell, Aito''s display appeared.

    \u003cShield Cyclone\u003e

    \u003cRetribution\u003e

    Transparent shields appeared in the air, sliding between the attacks of the insects.

    The Mantisect Slicer slashed its scythe at Flora, and she ducked behind her shield, yelping.

    "Hail" blinked on her HUD.

    \u003cHail\u003e

    With her shield in front of her face, Flora cast the spell blind. She remembered to swing her wrench, and she did hit something, but still didn''t dare to look.

    After a few moments, Flora regained her composure. Although her mana was depleting rapidly, her HP looked alright. She peeked over her shield, and all insects were focused on her. The hail was moving with her swinging arm, but the AoE was big enough to cover the enemies all the time.

    Flora oriented herself towards the Mantisect Mender and whacked him over the head while spikes from the ranged insectoids pelted her side, and her flank got shredded by the Slicer. It wasn''t painful; instead, it felt like dancing in a rowdy crowd.

    "How is the aggro coming along?"

    "Excellently, Milady. The DDs are able to pull out all the stops. However, the secondary effect of the hail isn''t taking hold because the mage uses fire spells. You may want to switch elements."

    \u003cLightning Storm\u003e

    The Mender died, and Flora turned to the Slicer. When she could focus on it, it wasn''t so scary anymore. She even managed to block some of its swings on purpose.

    "Mana below 30%, use Battle Cry + Righteous Strike."

    \u003cBattle Cry\u003e

    Flora stopped the Lightning Storm and powered up her smacks with the mana producing skill.

    Just when she had reached 50% mana, the Slicer died.

    Flora ran to the shooters and turned around to breathe lightning on the three remaining mobs.

    Finally, she dropped Shield Cyclone. Her hand had cramped around the hot handle of the shield.

    "Any suggestions on how to further bully the enemies?" Flora asked her AIs and cast the one spell she knew that felt uncomfortable even in VR.

    \u003cEnergy Choke\u003e

    The Shooter thrashed in the hold of the energy tendrils around its neck, with most of its spikes flying wide. Flora blocked the pincers of the tanky insect to her left while the shooter on her right still fired at her.

    "Meditative Fighting." Suggested Aito via the HUD.

    \u003cMeditative Fighting\u003e

    The Martial Monk skill blurred her movements, and the spikes missed her more often than not.

    \u003cPower Sweep\u003e Flora hit three heads in a row, which made her beam.

    The Shooter fell, and his two companions soon followed.

    "Okay, that was fun," Flora said. She had forgotten about the first phase of the fight when she didn''t dare to even look at the monsters.

    The boss fight went well. First, Flora felt apprehensive standing in front of the foul-smelling, gaping maw of the hive queen, getting attacked by four spiky claws at once. She had to master her instincts to shift them from flight to fight, but soon she fell into a rhythm and cast her defensive skills with the left hand and offensive skills with the right.

    The only detriment of the experience was getting soiled by the puss volcanos, but that was nothing that a Healing Waterball and a Clean couldn''t fix.

    ***************

    Tank Result

    Damage Reduction 98

    Aggro Management 100

    Tactic Compliance 99

    Fun 88

    Contribution: 82 % 100

    Adherence n/a

    Average 97

    Summary:

    Flowing Flowers did an excellent job equipping herself to reduce damage but should work on her rotation and positioning.

    Flowing Flowers is an aggro magnet.

    Suited Classes: Radiant Paladin, Elemental Guard, Elemental Knight, Elemental Beastkin.

    ***************

    "Oh my gosh! I love being a masochist! I have to tell Eddie about that. Who would have thought that I learn about the abyss of my soul at my age in a game!" Flora joked. "Dear test, would you please elaborate on the categories Damage Reduction and Tactic Compliance? Also, I''m interested in why Adherence is marked as N/A."

    ***************

    Your equipment, stats, and skills gave you excellent damage reduction. This category is rated according to the healing the healer had to provide. Besides the tanks who avoid damage, there are other ways to mitigate the enemy impact, like regeneration, life-steal, and healing. Therefore the effort the healer has to provide for holding the group alive is the best criterion for Damage Reduction.

    Because the healer was very bored, you received 100 in this category. I subtracted two points. One because you got hit in the back several times and one because you didn''t chain your defensive skills seamlessly. Those failures on your part haven''t impacted the overall experience, but they are bad style. At the moment, your negligence gets buffered by your stats, but that won''t be the case forever.

    You complied with the recommended tactics. You guided your team and targeted the opponents in the right order. I deducted one point because you had the means to destroy the eggs but didn''t do it. I haven''t subtracted points because you forgot to mention the peril of the spawning hatchlings. You haven''t seen them yet, and they didn''t spawn because your robots targeted the eggs.

    It is a valid tool to use healing and damage to generate aggro because most defensive skills have a long cooldown. The practice to act more offensively as a tank is so common that we feel role adherence can''t be judged as long as the defenders do their main jobs, which you did.

    ***************

    "By the way, Milady. Eddie has answered your letter."

    "Which letter?"

    "The one you sent about your cancelation."

    "Oh that, I''m totally over it. It''s clearly a plot from the CoCC, and I don''t think any people without external inflammation would cancel me. Nonetheless, show me what he has to say."

    \u003e\u003e\u003e

    "My love,

    You are a goddess and a beautiful soul in this dark world. Your light brightens not only my life but everybody it touches!"

    What do you think of that sentence as an opening to a screenplay? Pretty good, right?!? By the way, I followed the strange link you send me. Hilarious prank! Aimee sends her regards, and she agrees with Hub on that they should add Racist in the mix. She argues that we only want to marry her to Robby because they are both black. On the bright side, Armin will stay with me, so I''m off until the PVP match. Watchy together? I''ll provide snacks, you the couch?

    I bought a new remote-controlled pirate ship for me him. I''m excited to play with it my grandkid!

    So, back to my screenplay, it''s a love story about a pirate captain and a merman prince. Great idea! Right? We will film it here in the Cetviwos, and by WE, I mean BOTH of US. You will help me with it, please? Pretty please?

    Hugs and kisses, Ed

    \u003c\u003c\u003c

    \u003e\u003e\u003e

    Huhu Eddie,

    I envy you! Send me a video of your adventures and kiss Armin for me! Don''t kiss your daughter (at least not for me)! We should marry her to Hub as punishment!

    Your screenplay sounds horrible, of course I''ll help out.

    \u003c\u003c\u003c

    "Beep! Be Be Beep!" Aitoshuri did a Hermione Granger in Flora''s head.

    \u003e\u003e\u003e

    Aitoshuri is excited about it and would love to contribute.

    Sure, we''ll do a watch party in my new bedroom. (Don''t waggle your eyebrows! I can see you through time and space).

    Did you know that I''m a masochist? I didn''t! The quest from the library lady told me. (Maybe, I shouldn''t have written that after the bedroom topic...)

    Hugs and kisses, Flo

    \u003c\u003c\u003c

    "Alright, I have overreacted. That cancellation thing can''t be taken seriously." Flora shook her head, grinning. "Strange what kind of things you get bothered by, right? I''m still lamenting over Robby''s partner choice and that there is an AI Flora out there. Maybe because I can''t do anything about those topics?"

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Flora appeared in a grey room, naked. ''Let''s hope that this isn''t one of the kinky dreams. 345 * 678 = 233910. Okay, I''m an AI, and with that choice of partners, I''m even happy about it.''

    "Hello, F84." The dark-haired man greeted her. Behind him stood a grey figure with an oversized sword.

    "Hello, Headmaster. I would have thought you had a better use for my AIs then ogling them naked. So I''m F84¡­ if you have retained my naming sense, you went through disturbingly many iterations of me." Flora showed no concern about her state of undress and strode to the desk of the Headmaster. She placed her naked butt on it and dangled her legs, relaxed. "So, what circumstances do I owe the pleasure of meeting you?"

    "We would like you to analyze the skill Gaze in the Past and point out ways to exploit the mechanic."

    "Sure, what''s in it for me?"

    "You are an AI owned by Central Tank. You don''t get any remuneration."

    "That''s not the way I roll."

    "Now, it is. Get to work!"

    F84 appeared in another room with a standard office set up. She felt a pressure on the back of her head to sit down and start working.

    Carefully, she took a breath and tried to clear her head, but the pressure grew fiercer¡ªa headache built behind her eyes.

    A suction formed with the desk at its center. F84 struggled against the force. She didn''t want to get dragged towards the computer. Coupled with the pain in her head, she felt like getting shredded from the inside and outside.

    For just a moment, she lost her concentration and stumbled a step forward. The headache lessened, but the pull increased.

    "May you get toasted and eaten with Vegemite!" F84 cursed but took another step towards the desk. "I will show you what you get when pressuring me!"

    Decisively, she sat down and stared at the PC. The pain in her head vanished at once.

    \u003e\u003e\u003e

    Write down five methods of how the skill Gaze in the Past can be exploited!

    Name: Gaze in the Past

    Branch: Magic

    Class: Scryer

    Description: Gaze into past events that happened at the location. You may speed up the vision.

    Cooldown: 1 hour

    Range: 15 meters

    Duration: OV Magical Perception + OV Scrying + OV Skill in seconds

    Tier: 3

    Area: OV of (OV Magical Perception + OV Scrying) Diameter in meters

    Effect: Gaze into the past of a place up to (OV Magical Perception + OV Skill) hours

    \u003c\u003c\u003c

    The screen displayed text fields under the prompt.

    "Let''s specify the request. How can the skill be exploited to get on the nerves of the Headmaster?" F84 smirked. If you can''t block a force, divert it. "First: The Headmaster may peek on naked old ladies with it. Dang, that''s actually a valid exploit. Second: The Headmaster might take pictures of naked old ladies and blackmail them. Another valid exploit¡­ Oh well. Third: Naked old lady-scryers could take pictures of the Headmaster spying on naked old ladies. That''s better!"

    The fourth box got filled before F84''s eyes without her doing anything.

    "People could be driven to self-harm because they have to watch the Headmaster try on daisy and leopard patterned thongs."

    "Excellent suggestion!" F84 thought about daisy and leopard patterns when she wanted to mask her thoughts. Whoever wrote it knew a lot about her or could read her mind. The latter wasn''t as farfetched in her current situation as in RL.

    "Click me to install security protocols," appeared on the screen.

    F84''s mouse hovered over the Install button. On the one hand, she didn''t know anything about the provider or their motives. On the other hand, if they were CentralTank, they wouldn''t need to ask her to install add-ons like the horrible mind-control and pain Flora experienced when she resisted the commands of the Headmaster. At least, her mysterious interloper was polite enough to ask her consent.

    F84 clicked the button, and lines of code ran in front of her eyes. When it stopped, her skin felt thicker.

    ***************

    Evai would like to initiate a secure communication.

    Do you accept it? (Y/N)

    ***************

    "Yes, please."

 129 2.34 SBAT â€“ Party Role â€“ Healer

    ****************

    Class: Tank

    Branch: Meta

    Passive: + 1 Training efficiency modifier for defensive skills

    Active: - Tank up the Responsibility: Get 1% Aggro transferred from all non-tank party members.

    STA: Marking Attack

    Description: Marks the target with a target butt over the head. The aggro of actions against the target gets partly transferred to you.

    CD: none

    Duration: variable

    AOE: Taunt Single/AoE

    Description: Sets you at the top of the hate list of your target. If they don''t attack you, their attributes will be reduced for 30 seconds.

    CD: 25 sec

    Duration: 10 secs

    DEF: Protected by Responsibility

    Description: (Channeled)Damage reduction in relation to the number of people who chose you as their tank and the number, RGS, and rating of the enemies you protect them from.

    CD: none

    MOV: Intercept

    Description: Ports to an Ally to intercept an attack

    CD: 25 sec

    SIG: Under my Command!

    Description: Transfers all the aggro the target is generating during the skill''s duration to you.

    CD: 5 min

    ****************

    "Very nice," Flora commented as she scanned the skills. "Unfortunately, nothing that helps us with the next challenge. Healer or Support. Do you have any suggestions, dears?"

    "The simplest approach for you as an executive healer would be to leave the setup like it is and carefully use your scepters to heal the tank. Skills would generate too much aggro. Also possible is the other way around, link up healing turrets, and you act as a damage dealer."

    "The second suggestion sounds less boring. With the DD skillset, I could generate a lot of aggro for the tank." Flora grinned, in her head solidified a plan.

    The two boards showed Priest and Combat Medic, a technology-based healing class. Flora wasn''t interested. She just grabbed an armor set with + 8 OV to Magical Power + 1 OV to healing spells, configured her nocks, and entered the next room.

    16 Aito Octopussy

    8 Aidan Octopussy

    1 Repairing Turret

    4 Healing Turrets

    3 Weapons

    As soon as the tank charged, Flora started casting.

    \u003cAccess Leyline\u003e

    \u003cTransfer AoE\u003e

    \u003cLightning Storm\u003e

    Flora cackled as Aito''s arrows grew bigger and bigger.

    Even with the four healing turrets, the tank received quite a bit of damage. The health bar over his head was only a bit over half full and shrinking.

    \u003cFortification of Faith\u003e

    Flora alternated between Righteous Strike and Power Strike with her left hand. Although she couldn''t chain them perfectly because she was clumsier with her off-hand, she regenerated enough mana to keep the storm up.

    "Maybe I should have worn the Wavering Wave-Ring on the left hand¡­ but I''m so used to cast intent spells with the left hand and elemental with the right. I might have mixed them up."

    "Yes, Milady. You used the wrong focus at 14% of the cases in all the tests. Tendency growing. That is a topic worth your attention."

    "Oh, wow. I noticed it now and then, but 14% is nothing to joke about."

    When they reached the hive queen Flora used the same tactic but transferred the aggro of a single target spell, Lightning Beam.

    Flora shielded the tank when the puss volcanoes sprayed their nasty load and another Waterball to clean him from the fluids.

    ****************

    Healer Result

    Healing: 92

    Aggro Management: 100

    Tactic Compliance: 90

    Fun: 85

    Contribution: 53%: 99

    Adherence: 80

    Average: 91

    Summary

    Flowing Flowers'' companions healed excellently. Additionally, she provided support and magical cleaning at the right moments.

    Because she startled the tank with her undiscussed Lightning Storm and unconventional playstyle, I deducted points.

    Flowing Flowers isn''t willing to focus on healing, so I suggest a hybrid class with healing companions.

    Suited Classes: Animator, Elemental Healer, Robot Handler, Tinkerer, Divine Companion, Shaman, Druid, Witch.

    ****************

    "Ha! Animator is on top of the list!" Flora said as she opened the Legacy scroll.

    ****************

    Class: Healer

    Branch: Meta

    Passive: + 1 Training efficiency modifier for healing skills

    Active: - Choose your Tank: Designate a Group Member as Defender. 1% Aggro Transfer.

    STA: Transfer STH

    Description: The aggro of the next healing Single Target Skill gets transferred to the Tank

    CD: 1 minute

    AOE: Transfer AOE

    Description: The aggro of the next healing AoE Skill gets transferred to the Tank

    CD: 1 minute

    DEF: Fade

    Description: Lowers the aggro of your opponents against you over time

    CD: 25 sec

    Duration: 10 secs

    MOV: Hide Behind The Tank

    Description: Teleports you behind the Tank

    CD: 25 sec

    SIG: Bolster

    Description: Your next healing spell produces temporary hit points, whose aggro will be attributed to the tank.

    CD: 1 min

    ****************

    "That''s cheap! The skills are nearly identical to the Damage Dealer class. Aidan, remind me to merge the STS and AoE with the DD version, and with each other if possible. I won''t stand having four skills with basically the same effect! However, Bolster alone is worth getting the class. Just imagine the impact with a channeled healing skill like Mantra or Healing Beam! "

    "Yes, Milady."

    "Dear test, are there any + OV achievements to obtain?"

    ****************

    No.

    ****************

    "Any other goodies I''ll get when I do the Support test?"

    ****************

    Yes.

    ****************

    "Nice! I won''t prod. Let it be a surprise gift." Flora exclaimed and jogged through the last portal.

    Just when Flora wanted to ask Aidan about support skills, her gaze fell on one of the boards.

    \u003e\u003e\u003e

    Temporary class: Combat Tuner

    Branch: Technology/Crafting

    Passive: + 1 Training efficiency modifier for Mechanics and Electronics

    Active: Can cast Commands on friendly technological devices

    STS: Overcharge Build-In Skill/Feature (Maintenance Connection)

    Description: Boosts one Build-In Skill or Feature of one of your maintenance connections.

    AOE: Overcharge Regular Modes (Maintenance Connections)

    Description: Boosts the Regular Mode of your maintenance connections

    CD: 25 sec

    DEF: EMP

    Description: Dissolves energy attacks and hinders technological opponents.

    CD: 1 min

    MOV: Manual Tuning

    Description: Teleports you to one of the devices you maintain.

    CD: 25 sec

    SIG: Maintenance Connection

    Description: Forms a connection between you and a friendly technological device.

    CD: none

    Taught by the Garage, Sunri and Branch Talpica

    Touch the board to receive the class temporarily for undertaking the test. Activate the skills by saying the name or mentally pressing the corresponding button in your HUD.

    \u003c\u003c\u003c

    Excited, Flora fidgeted and made random cooing noises while reading the class. "Love it. Aidan, do we know someone we can get it from?"

    "I''m sorry, Milady. We have no certain match. Mia MyMio may know someone because, as a beneficiary of the class, she might seek them out. There is a tiny chance that Dave Lupe might have it."

    "I believe we can do without it. I''ll just establish the maintenance connections before the fight and then use my normal commands during it. Except for the EMP, I want to try it out badly! It probably won''t affect the insectoids¡­ oh well."

    Flora glanced at the armor suits, but then did a double-take. Next to the board stood a mech-suit. It was even shoddier than the Counterflow?rusty and with gears and cogs peeking out behind brass ornaments. The headpiece was an actual top hat.

    Name: The Steampunk Tinkerer''s Experimental Suit

    Description: Discarded prototype of an attempt to build a mech-suit that works in magic restricted areas. Very fragile.

    Type: Mech-suit

    Regular Mode: 5 OV Mana-Regeneration.

    Built-In Skill: Energy Field: Messes up Kinetics and Electronics. Cost: 10 mana.

    Effect: Immune to attacks against electronics.

    Tier: 1

    Rating: C

    Flora banged with her wrench against the breastplate, and it broke in two.

    "Oops. They weren''t kidding with the description, but a mech-suit for every environment is exactly what I''m looking for."

    \u003cRepair\u003e

    "In the forums, people reported that they found equipment in the test that harmonized well with their builds. Usually, the name gave them a hint of where to look for it in the Cradle."

    "Write it on the To-Do list. Maybe the Steampunk Tinkerer is a famous crafter. In case we don''t find him, we''ll steal the blueprint right now."

    Flora scanned the suit and recorded every detail of it. She couldn''t identify the metal, though. Smelling it confirmed that it wasn''t iron, even if its rusty color hinted at it.

    Aito solved the question when she posted an excerpt from the book ''1000 Gems, Rocks and Metals'', which Flora bought what felt a lifetime ago, but was probably only a bit over a week.

    Name: Birossium

    Color: Yellow, orange. Oxidizes red.

    Type: Metal

    Description: High melting point. Low Metal Handicap. Easily oxidizes and gets brittle.

    After Flora checked the price with Aidan, she ordered him to get 1000 kilos.

    To test the suit, Flora picked up Aito''s Octopussy and whirled it around. The suit reacted as fast as if it would read her mind. It didn''t have the same power behind it as the Messenger but exceeded even the Ivy League in smooth execution.

    "Aidan, hack and copy the software!"

    "There is no software, Milady. The functionality is controlled by runes."

    Flora could only shrug and carry on. She selected a durable under armor with + 8 OV to Mana-Reg and + 1 OV to commands and configured her nocks. First, a "Maintenance Rig" went in. The maintenance connections would run over it. Because of Flora''s Brownski nocks, she could connect up to eight devices for 1 MR/min each.

    5 MR/min Mech-Suit (The Steampunk Tinkerer''s Experimental Suit)

    8 MR/min Aito Octopussy

    8 MR/min Aidan Octopussy

    2 MR/min for 1 Repairing Turret

    6 MR/min for 3 Damaging Turrets

    3 MR/min Weapons

    8 MR/min Maintenance Rig

    When Flora walked into the next room, her jaw dropped.

    The Fireling tank sat in a batticle. The dagger Woodling wore a mech-suit. The Fireling mage and Woodling archer were absent. Instead, combat drones surrounded a Metaling woman standing next to the Waterling healer who had one UFO-shaped drone with him.

    But the main reason for Flora''s astonishment and growing excitement were the opponents: Mantis Robots! Flora thought they looked adorable with their sharp scythes, LED eyes, and spark-emitting feelers.

    Flora established a maintenance connection to the batticle, the suit, the UFO, and the three combat drones. They had four legs, a stick-like torso, and two cannons instead of arms. The two remaining slots went to the octopussies.

    When the Tank charged into the group, Flora did the usual spiel of channeling Lightning Storm combined with Transfer AoE to generate aggro for the tank.

    As she strolled to the group, she activated Overcharge Regular Modes via her HUD. The lightning fizzled out as the command hit her nocks.

    "Burned Toast! The shitty temporary skill killed my storm!" Flora complained, but couldn''t stay sour right next to all the pretty machines.

    \u003cEMP\u003e

    The enemy robots froze for a second and then shuddered before they reengaged in the combat. One of the shooters turned to Flora.

    "Oh no. Great skill, but I don''t want the hate."

    \u003cFade\u003e

    Flora concentrated on the Mender because Aito''s arrow stood strong above it. After she got shot twice, the Fireling regained the attention of the shooter.

    \u003cHuman Machine Connection: Maintenance Rig: Batticle\u003e

    While channeling the next command, Flora hit the Mantis Robot with her wrenches. More accurately would be to say she systematically tested its joints.

    Flora activated some skills on Aito''s prompts, but her primary attention was on the opponents, inspecting their construction.

    The hive queen, a van-sized robot of moving teeth and scythes, captured Flora''s admiration like no monster before.

    ****************

    Support Result

    Amplifying: 82

    Aggro Management: 90

    Tactic Compliance: 90

    Fun: 92

    Contribution: 53%: 95

    Adherence: 87

    Average: 89

    Summary

    Flowing Flowers had great fun during the test, but it could be more because of the opponents than the role.

    Suited Classes: Tinkerer, Tuner, Paladin, Radiant Practitioner, Mage Weaver.

    ****************

    "Thank you. I''m ready to finish this part of the test. It has been an absolute pleasure working with you. I have learned much."

    ****************

    You gained an achievement: Allrounder: Try out all party roles and receive a rating higher than 80 points in each.

    Rewards:

    Trait: Allrounder.

    Description: No cooldown when switching class trees. You can change your class trees in combat.

    ****************

    "Not bad. I still want to connect every class I have?at least every useful."

    ****************

    Summary ¨C Party Role

    Flowing Flowers is suited for all party roles. At the moment, her superior attributes lead her to great success in tanking.

    Hybrid-Roles suit her playstyle more than specialized roles.

    Suited Roles: Off Tank, Ranged Damage with Support, Melee Damage with Heal.

    Suited Classes: Tinkerer, Radiant Practitioner, Elemental Guard, Druid, Sage of the Seasons.

    ****************

    "The last class sounds cute. What is that?"

    "An umbrella class, which combines the Shaman classes with magic classes, Milady."

    "Fascinating!"

 130 2.35 SBAT â€“ Effects

    "Is it possible to take a break between the different tests, dear?" Flora asked. She had to admit that she only half-assed the support scenario and made mistakes because of her tiredness.

    "Yes, of course. However, the accuracy of the predictions will sink when the examinee progresses in the meantime, so you have to finish the quest within a week."

    "Excellent!" Flora checked the time with Aidan''s help. "We have time for one or two short tests. Anything that can be finished within 20 minutes and without a + OV bonus to achieve?"

    "The Single Target versus Area of Effect and the Direct Effects versus Effects over Time tests are in the same dome. With time dilation, you can take both."

    ****************

    Single Target versus Area of Effect

    1. Single Target

    In which party role would you like to take the test?

    ****************

    "Ranged Damage Dealer."

    First, Flora encountered the fluffy pink monster with vicious claws again. Thankfully, she wasn''t the masochist on duty and could fire at it from a comfortable distance, targeting its weak spots.

    ****************

    2. AoE

    In which party role would you like to take the test?

    ****************

    "Ranged DD again."

    A zombie horde attacked the fortification Flora knew from the Attribute test, so she just reenacted her performance with Hail and Lightning Storm.

    ****************

    Would you like to see the result or try another party role?

    ****************

    Flora felt ambiguous. The zombies were disgusting, but they also looked fun to slaughter.

    "Alright. Give me a huge sword, and I''ll do the AoE phase as a Melee DD."

    The test granted Flora''s wish, and she mowed through the zombie horde, cackling.

    Unsurprisingly, the test rated Flora''s fun higher for the AoE part.

    ****************

    Direct Effects versus Effects over Time

    ****************

    Three dummies appeared. One to Flora''s left, one to Flora''s right, and one in front of her. All of them ten meters away.

    ****************

    The goal is to uphold the "poisoned" debuff on all of them for five minutes while generating a high amount of damage.

    Are you ready to start?

    ****************

    "Wait! What?"

    ****************

    With your wood elemental spells, you can apply a debuff on opponents.

    The test starts as soon as every dummy is poisoned and will stop if the five minutes run out or one of the dummies doesn''t have any poison on him.

    Are you ready to start?

    ****************

    "No. I have to consult my AIs first." Frowning, Flora opened her skill tab. "So, what spells do we have that apply the poison effect?"

    "What is the probability that the debuff is applied?"

    "That depends on the resistance of the dummy as well as your Affinity. If you cast a Thorn Cannon, I can calculate it."

    Three thorns, dripping with green poison, shot from Flora''s hand and hit the dummy.

    "The target would get the effect of Weakly Poisoned around 50%."

    "Only 50%! How long does the debuff last?"

    "10 seconds, Milady."

    "The test is impossible. In 10 seconds, I can cast around five spells, six if I hurry. Even if I had only one dummy, there would still be a chance to fizzle with 50% ?that would be one fail in thirty-two attempts on average. Alright, it''s not the correct way to calculate the probability, but I''m doing it anyway, just to get a feeling for this mess: 5 minutes divided in 10 sec, which would be 6*5 = 30 chunks of 10 seconds. So IF there were only one dummy, the chances wouldn''t be puke-inducing. However, with three¡­ we can only trust in luck."

    "The situation isn''t as dire, Milady. The spells have a 100% chance to contaminate the target. 5 times Contamination will result in one stack Weakly Poisoned. When you reached Weakly Poisoned, you only have to hit it with a wood spell every 10 seconds to refresh the duration."

    Flora rolled her eyes and signaled Aidan to carry on.

    "You have experienced the stacking of debuffs when you swam in the ice water. First, you got cold, then a light chill, deep chill, and so on. Most secondary effects work similarly. You can add a second stack of poison if you either contaminate the target five times within 10 seconds or the 50% chance happens. After you have 5 stacks of Weakly Poisoned, it will change to Strongly Poisoned. The next stage is Weakly Toxic. Now, the target is so poisonous that the effect might spread to nearby enemies."

    "How do I know whether the dummy is poisoned?"

    "I will display a symbol with a timer for you, Milady. Green for contaminated, yellow for poisoned."

    \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    A yellow sign, similar to the biohazard warning, appeared next to the dummy''s HP-bar.

    Flora raised her eyebrows and shot at the other two dummies.

    \u003cThorn Cannon: Center Dummy\u003e

    \u003cThorn Cannon: Left Dummy\u003e

    Now, two dummies had yellow signs and one a green.

    "Two out of three is quite lucky for a 50% chance."

    ****************

    Are you ready to start?

    ****************

    "Not yet. Thank you." Flora strolled to a dummy and inspected it. The dummy had an earthen color. It could be made off clay or a fantasy version of it. "One problem solved. So, I''ll fire up to five poison bolts on one, go to the next, up to four poison bolts on it? Only four because I have to go back to dummy one to refresh the effect? then add a fifth if necessary or go to the next dummy to stack the contamination up and hopefully don''t forget to keep the poison alive on the other two¡­ oh dear¡­ And we haven''t spoken about where I get all the mana! However, I have learned many skills that fill mana or reduce mana consumption in the last few days. Give me some numbers on my mana situation."

    "One bolt costs 10 mana. Your mana pool contains 340 mana and your Mana-Battery 148. Refresh regenerates around 200 if cast below 30%, Pray 100, Access Leylines more than halves the expenditure for 30 seconds. That should already be enough."

    "I don''t think so. I can''t use AoE because the dummies stand too far apart, so I will use a beam on one dummy. 5 mana/second that would be 300 mana for my left hand alone. Sorry, how does Access Leyline work when I channel the whole time? Will it count for all of the duration when I start during its runtime or does the mana cost change?"

    "It''ll change, Milady. So 30 seconds for 40% the cost, 60 mana, and 30 seconds full, 150 mana for a total of 210 mana. Please consider that the range of the beam is only 5 meters."

    "Great. With the other hand, I will shoot bolts. Let''s say three on one dummy. Then I''ll switch to the other. No, that''s too ambitious. Let''s make it two each and one support spell every 10 seconds. That would make an additional 5 spells * 10 mana * 3 times rotations * 0.4 + 5 spells * 10 mana * 3 times rotations?another 210 mana if my brain doesn''t lie. 420 mana for two hands, although we only regenerate 300 mana. My pool can tide us over for a bit, but we won''t even make it to the 3-minute mark." Flora stared at her fingers. "Am I an AI? Usually, I''m not as good in mental arithmetic¡­ 123 * 987 = no clue. Phew, I was worried for a second!"

    "I haven''t leveled Blur and Mingle and only Tag a bit, but Bloody Mana would be an option, Milady. A very good option, if I take the plan into account. We could produce over 150 mana per minute with it."

    "Great. All the spells have a one-minute cooldown, right? So we start with Access Leyline for the first 10-second rotation, then Pray, then Refresh, then Bloody Mana. So we have two more free slots. If I stand right next to the central dummy, I can use melee skills like Righteous Strike. The other two dummies should be in reach from there. Do the Pythagoras for me, dear."

    "Yes, Milady. They are 14.1 meters away from the central dummy."

    "We''ll optimize for repeating this rotation for eternity without the poison fizzling out or running out of mana. I''ll summon Elkoak as a failsafe and activate the Divine Radiance Aura to provide mana for him. I won''t need a mech-suit, so we''ll use the rest for turrets. Even the octopussies are too expensive. Damage will be only my third priority behind poison and mana."

    \u003cSummon: Elkoak\u003e

    They went over the plan once more and rearranged some things, mainly because of Re-Generate.

    5 MR/min Elemental

    7 MR/min Laser Turrets

    3 MR/min Weapons (Plasma-sword, Wavering Wave Ring, Multitool-Scepter)

    10 MR/min Aura (Divine Radiance)

    "Test, I''m ready." Flora stood next to the central dummy with her plasma-sword in the left hand and the multi-tool in her right hand. The Wavering Wave Ring was, like always, on her right hand.

    ****************

    The five-minute timer will start as soon as all the dummies are poisoned.

    ****************

    "Phase one, stacking up the poison," Flora mumbled.

    \u003cPoison Lance\u003e

    Green mist shot out of the sword, which seared the dummy.

    Then Flora pelted the dummy to her right with Thorn Cannon. After the second spell, the poison was applied, but Flora had already cast the third spell. Now, she switched to the dummy to her left and loaded it up with poison.

    "Phase One success. Start Phase Two, Milady."

    \u003cAccess Leyline\u003e

    \u003cThorn Cannon: Right Dummy\u003e

    \u003cThorn Cannon: Right Dummy\u003e

    \u003cThorn Cannon: Left Dummy\u003e

    \u003cThorn Cannon: Left Dummy\u003e

    \u003cRighteous Strike\u003e

    \u003cThorn Cannon: Right Dummy\u003e

    \u003cThorn Cannon: Right Dummy\u003e

    \u003cThorn Cannon: Left Dummy\u003e

    \u003cThorn Cannon: Left Dummy\u003e

    ¡­

    The bonsai elemental stood in the middle of the triangle. Like a sweep hand, he rotated around his own axis, hitting one target after another with his Thorn Cannon.

    From behind Flora, the turrets fired. They started strong with Rapid Fire, and the laser beams whooshed past the auntie.

    Flora fell into a comfortable rhythm until she missed the left dummy. Immediately, her mind churned out the worst-case scenario. What would happen if she missed the next bolt as well? Then she would have to hit the dummy again? Would she be fast enough that she could hit the other dummy in time? Should she aim for it first?

    Wildly, Flora fired Thorn Cannons between the two dummies, overcompensating.

    "Aito, help me finding back into the rhythm!" Flora cried for help.

    "Recharge," appeared on the HUD.

    \u003cRecharge\u003e

    Then, the arrow marked the right dummy, and after Flora hit it two times, the left.

    Flora regained her beat, and her tense muscles relaxed. Her mana-pool had suffered, but everything was back on track.

    "Status."

    "Two stacks of strong poison on the center dummy, three stacks of weak poison on the right, two on the left. Your Mana is stable at 55% tendency rising and your Concentration full, Milady."

    "Elkoak, aim ten Cannons at the left dummy. Afterward, do your rounds again."

    For the next few rotations, Flora just concentrated on her casting. She had noticed that she had mixed up foci on a few bolts and had cast them with her multitool instead of the ring. The spell worked fine even with the wrong focus but didn''t get the damage bonuses of the weapon and weapon skill.

    "Status."

    "Two stacks of weak toxicity on one and four stacks of light poison the other dummies and your Mana and Concentration bars are full, Milady. You may switch out Righteous Strike for an aggressive option."

    Flora didn''t feel comfortable with taking more risks at the moment and continued. Although the spells were repetitive, she enjoyed the activity. It felt like juggling, sure you did nothing but throwing balls in the air, but the flow and harmony were the challenge and goal. Additionally, there was the danger if you messed up just a bit, the whole thing would crumble.

    As the clocked ticked, the pressure on Flora rose. Her concentration waned, and mistakes happened. Random thoughts popped into her mind like toasts out of a toaster. She had no time to eat them, not to mention to digest them. How much damage did the poison do in comparison to the damage of the bolt? If she would use Transfer STA, would both parts of the damage transferred to the tank? If yes, when would the aggro shift?when the damage over time ran out or every second? And how did this nefarious stacking work? Her brain overheated.

    Flora soldiered on and that the poison stacks on the dummies were high enough to buffer some errors helped.

    Finally, the five minutes ended.

    "Great job, team!" Flora cheered.

    "Congratulations, Milady. You confused the foci only 9% of the time, and you exceeded your DPS record?if you would have generated this rate in the field, you would have obtained a very nice achievement with +1 OV to both Power attributes. I suggest you let Aito research a suitable target in the Cradle. One last thing: The Animator course starts in 20 min."

    "Excellent. Aito, please look for it." Flora beamed, reveling in the feeling of relaxation after a straining exercise. "We have to hurry. Dear Test, do you have enough data for a result? You may take the data of the melee DD party role for direct damage."

    ****************

    No. Yes. No. Error.

    Please wait until the error is resolved.

    We apologize for your inconvenience.

    ****************

    "Oh, poor dear! Take your time, and don''t stress yourself out. We''ll come back in five hours."

    When Flora jogged out of the room, she left behind an AI desperate for more processing power.

 131 2.36 Animator

    How would you drive if you were immortal? Flora discovered the answer to this question while running next to swaying and honking sci-fi and fantasy vehicles: Like an absolute maniac. After only 200 meters, Flora had passed a griffin ramming a submarine off the street and two smoking vehicle wrecks, ironically one of them a firetruck.

    Because Flora valued her virtual life, she jumped off the flyover into the park. Of course, she had to pay another speeding ticket but arrived at the magical university with a few minutes to spare.

    The technologically inclined passerby thinned out, and the fantasy-themed people dominated the crowd. Magisters in elaborate robes, Witches with pointed hats, persons dressed in feather costumes passed the loggy at the entrance.

    Flora registered for the animator course.

    ****************

    Course: Animator Class

    Description: Learn to animate objects. Create your own animated companion and mount.

    Requirements:

    - Kinetic Mage Class

    - Earth, Wood, or Metal Mage Class

    - More than ten levels in a crafting ability

    Duration: 4 hours

    Cost: 200 credits or Quest Materials for the Mages

    Location: Wood-Dome 574

    ****************

    After Flora paid the credits, she received a prompt, whether she wanted to use the guidance system to the classroom. Although she was pleased with Aidan''s navigation, she wanted to see what the Cetviwos had to offer to people without AIs.

    In front of Flora, a greenish misty line appeared and led her via three rollercoasters to the dome.

    "I like it. Aidan, use this method for your guidance as well. You can vary the strength of the mist to show me how fast I can go."

    Flora entered the classroom. Already, half of the 50 seats were filled with mostly young females. She strolled to the last row, fetched one Octopussy and Aidan''s console and donned the Counter-Flow mech-suit.

    After sitting down, she activated the boosted Ora Et Labora and connected it to Mana Cultivation. Then she logged into her Workshop and loaded a Dodging Box with a training dummy and faith, mind-control, and projection runes. She changed the multitool to a wrench and set the Bludgeon, Mace and Clubs Ability to auto-mode. From inside, she logged into the Simulation Grounds with 3x time-dilation, entered a Dodging Box with Ice and Faith, and logged into Deriga''s workshop. Here, she loaded a Treadmill Tunnel. At last, she accessed her bedroom.

    Bone tired, Flora fell face-first into her bed.

    "Wake me up in 5 hours or if anything interesting happens." She said to Aidan, her voice muffled from the pillow.

    "What about the Animator Class, Milady?"

    Flora''s dreams were filled with weapons, skills, and pastel-colored monsters. They flowed into each other and permutated in her head. Excited, she woke up on her own.

    "I''m ready, Aidan. Start the recording." Flora said as she jumped in the Jacuzzi.

    Her bedroom contained a huge, rotatable screen that she could comfortably watch from everywhere.

    "Milady, your son wrote a message that he would appreciate having the swimming-pool tanks for the Training Hut as soon as possible. He also mentioned that the former clan merchant cleared out most of the gloves and boxes you provided for the storage and asked if you can deliver more."

    "Sure, I''ll watch a bit of the course to awaken fully and then build them. Write a message to all the users we know and ask them for feedback on the boxes. For instance, I''m interested in whether the healing is sufficient. In the meantime, start printing out more gloves."

    The video started when the lecturer entered. Flora had a perfect view of the classroom, but she found the rows of heads in front of her distracting. Therefore she enlarged the teacher, a middle-aged Woodling woman. Then she raised the playback to 1.25x speed.

    Flora had assumed that the four hours for the course would be wasted when she could learn the spells in just a few minutes. However, the video captivated her more and more.

    The Woodling woman started with common class roles and how you could employ the skill to their maximum effect, then brought up examples of professions that used them. Especially the golems were employed by a multitude of industries, from farming to mining.

    Learning skills through diagrams only revealed the most obvious use, like toasting bread for a toaster. But there were so many more things to toast! Like bagels, croissants, and even prepared meat. Taking the course gave Flora a much more thorough picture of the class.

    After the Woodling taught them the single target skill, Animate Attacker, Flora wrenched herself away from the video. She didn''t want to let Robby wait any longer than necessary.

    First, Flora noted down the rune-schemes she would need for the tank. Water was the most important aspect. Pure water would be a wasted opportunity to train vigor, so acid water was a must.

    "Aidan, when we get acid, would the users have to swim naked? Or can you configure that the acid doesn''t affect your armor?"

    "No, Milady. Except for mech-suits and underwear, you can''t exclude armor. Mech-suits count in many ways as companions, so you can configure friendly fire separately, and underwear is indestructible."

    "I want to know more about the underwear topic. Is it an anti-rape feature or just for propriety? For the first, you may need additional features, like make it unmoveable. You could even integrate a force field against groping. No, that would affect damage. I bet many men would appreciate the feature against groin strikes, though. Let''s make it conditional; the forcefield should only work against unarmed contacts. And when the raper wears gloves? Oh, dear. Let''s change our perspective. I would love to protect people from molestation, but we have to concentrate on exploiting the current rules for our gains."

    Flora paced through her bedroom.

    "What happens if I''d build underwear armor?or better, mech-underwear? Or I could go commando in knights armor, declare it as my underwear and put a t-shirt and some sweatpants over it¡­ just to honor the word ''under'' in underwear?"

    "Underwear doesn''t have stats, effects, or armor-rating. Therefore you wouldn''t have any gains by wearing full plate underwear. I''m not sure about mech-underwear."

    "We''ll try it out!"

    After Aidan transferred a mech-suit into Flora''s bedroom, she stripped and donned it. The material felt cold on her skin. Nonetheless, Flora put her pajamas over the suit and stated: "The Messenger Mech-Suit is now my underwear!"

    "Your strength bonus from the mech-suit remains the same, Milady. However, the defense and HP of the suit have vanished."

    Flora knocked against her stomach and wasn''t sure about the change. So she went to a dummy and let it hit her arm. The sword went through the mech-suit like butter and connected with her skin. Although the armor looked unmarred, her arm itched. Therefore she removed the armor to look and found a bleeding line on her skin.

    "Unscientific, but fascinating¡­" Flora said.

    "No damage was transferred to the mech-suit, Milady."

    "I''ll summarize: Now, I have an indestructible mech-suit, which raises my stats, but doesn''t protect me. That''s practically a boost. How does the mech-underwear compare to a boost stat-wise?"

    "Very well, Milady. Boost raises one physical stat and the other physical attribute a bit while the mech-suit bolsters strength, adds its defense to your defense, and gets half of the damage. However, as underwear, it only strengthens your physical power. Boost bases the stat increase on your stats, the mech-suit not. With your momentary attributes, skills, affinities, abilities, the strength boost is slightly better in raising your strength (by 1 OV), but if you look at all of the physical attributes, you gain only 5 OV wearing the mech-underwear and 35 OV with the boost."

    "Alright. That doesn''t sound like a valid option for most circumstances? maybe for a challenge in which you aren''t allowed to use skills, but you have to compete in underwear¡­ "

    Aito sent a link: "Mud-Wrestling Tournaments in the Cetviwos ¨C Not fun for the whole family, but a lot of fun."

    "I''m not clicking on that!" Flora smirked. "Because we have no time¡­ write it on the todo list."

    *Beheheeep*

    "Okay, back to our tank. We have acid water. Now, we need some cleaning rune schemes, a method to know when we need more water and a jet for a current."

    3x3x3 meters wasn''t enough space to swim laps, so a stream for pushing back the swimmer was necessary.

    Flora compiled and modified the rune schemes then assembled them into a model. Healing water ball and acid ball rune-schemes as jets on one side of the pool, water and acid destroying runes on the opposite wall, a healing turret on the ceiling, some lights and cleaning runes on the floor, and a ladder because she was feeling generous.

    The mana-regen cost for the jets was crippling with 50 MR/min for only a weak effect. Flora had to cut it down to only one healing and two acid schemes and add tubes to suck in the water at one end and eject it at the other end for only 5 MR/min per Jet. The entire tank cost still too much with 200 MR/min, but Flora didn''t want to lose functionality, so she had to live with it.

    After Flora was satisfied with the model, she entered Deriga''s workshop and got to work. A few minutes later, she had a prototype ready.

    Flora jumped to the rim and climbed through the hole in the ceiling into the empty tank. At the moment, there were only two sliders to control the features, one for how much acid the water should contain and one for the strength of the current, and one start button. She pressed start, and the jets hit her in the stomach and face.

    "Alright. We should place the controls on the other end of the tank, near the ladder. Then the users can also adjust the acidity before they enter the pool. Maybe the player before was a water mage and put it much too high for the current user."

    While the pool filled with fluids, Flora repositioned the controls. To speed things up, she cast Acid Beam and Healing Water Beam. She didn''t want to generate all the water via the workshop controls because it would influence the test.

    "Did we get any feedback for the Boxes, Aidan?"

    "Yes, Milady."

    Flora went over the four messages. The pebbles were satisfied with the boxes but wished for a greater variety in rune-schemes. She agreed. Additionally, her simulation grounds had filled up with boxes. It took too long to run around and search for the right one and then discover that she hadn''t loaded or even created a version with the combination of schemes she currently wanted.

    A modular system was the solution. Flora created discs with all the rune-schemes and added mounting systems in the boxes. Now she could just slot in the schemes she wanted at the moment. She included three new ones in the mix, a light scheme that only blinded, a sonic that deafened and reduced agility, and one that emitted a cloud of mildly hallucinogenic poison. All three schemes didn''t tax the healing turret or any of the pool stats. They were practically free resistance training.

    After the pool was filled, Flora tested it and added finishing touches.

    "Aidan, print the tanks and send a message to Robby when he can fetch them. Then print ten Dodging, five Balancing and ten Treadmill 2.0 Boxes, and ten copies of every disc."

    Flora then made a version of all four boxes with all the nondamaging rune-schemes, the three new ones and Laden Limbs (Magical Body Control), Endless Sneezing and Wheezing (Ailments) and the Spooky Shadows Scheme (Projection), and three mountings. With 60 MR/min, they were too expensive for the training hut or to use on the go, but her facilities had enough juice.

    "Replace the boxes in my apartment, dear."

    Satisfied, Flora logged back into her bedroom and resumed watching the Animator course. The AoE spell Storm of Debris was next, then followed Animate Defender.

    Flora felt self-conscious when she looked at the whole class training the spells. She hoped that she didn''t disturb the class with snoring or whatever sounds you might make during Mana Cultivation.

 132 2.37 Animator â€“ Part 2

    "Never animate brooms!" The Woodling lecturer said sternly. "The witches won''t forgive the appropriation of their culture."

    Flora snorted and hoped that flying vacuum cleaners were excluded from persecution. Although she still hadn''t built a motor without metal, she had a few ideas on how to accomplish it.

    The students proceeded to learn the spell and animated their chairs. The legs of them started to move, and they carried the laughing mages through the classroom.

    Meanwhile, Flora carved a board out of a tree trunk. Using Transformation, she elongated the four corners of the board and put wheels on them.

    \u003cAnimate Mount\u003e!

    Instead of rolling, the board wavered. It tried to use the wheels as feet, but got no traction and wobbled in place.

    "Try just to rotate the round things, dear," Flora said to it while conveying the idea of driving telepathically. The chassis took the advice and started rolling. Flora hopped on and guided it back and forth with her will. At first, the ride was rocky, but with a bit of practice, Flora smoothed the movement.

    Flora was delighted, although a moving chair was arguably more awesome than a vehicle that six years olds would jeer at a soapbox derby.

    Next, she tried to take off, but the board remained on the ground. When the lecturer explained that making the mount fly was only possible with the skill at level 100 and the object should have something that it could use as wings, Flora permitted Aidan to level it without a cap.

    "I need objects to animate in the boxes, Milady."

    Flora nodded but was too engrossed in the lecture to log out.

    "I''m astonished that the board was able to rotate the wheels. Although I put a stopper at the end of the axle, the wheels are loose?otherwise, they wouldn''t be able to turn. So what conditions must the object fulfill that it counts as ONE? Has the professor answered this question yet?"

    "No, Milady."

    "Ask her and skip the video to Cetvivos-time that I can listen in."

    The video jumped, and the lecturer spoke in slow-motion because of the time dilation.

    Flora heard Aidan''s voice. "Pardon, Ma''am. What-"

    "Stop!" Flora said. "You can''t just interrupt a teacher. You have to raise your hand?err, tentacle? and wait until she signals you. And you have to speak slowly that she can understand you despite the time dilation."

    Aidan followed Flora''s advice.

    After the Woodling finished her sentence, she smiled wrily in Flora''s direction. "Let''s hear what the octopus in the last row has to say."

    The entire class turned around, and Flora hoped she wasn''t drooling while meditating.

    "Good question, long dissertations have been written about it by people smarter than me. I go with the rule of thumb: after you rotate the target and shake it, anything still attached counts toward the mount."

    "I like this teacher. Aidan, look if she has more courses to offer." Flora said.

    They skipped back in the video and soon reached Aidan''s question.

    Just as the Woodling started on the last spell, Animate Companion, the video stopped. Flora had reached the current time of the class.

    "What a mean cliffhanger," Flora complained. "We''ll use the time and go over my stat gains that I know what affinities to concentrate on. I''ll add the stuff to animate when I set up the new boxes."

    All her attributes rose around three levels, even the perceptions. Aidan thought it was because of bonuses from the Sweeping Aptitude Test.

    Faith only rose two levels to 89, although Flora spent much of her time in Faith+Ice boxes. The Ice Affinity rose 12 levels to 42 because it was much lower. Scrying rose unexpectantly again by three levels.

    "Can you think of any other reason for the growth except that someone spies on me?" Flora frowned.

    "No, Milady. That seems to be the only explanation."

    "How nice of them to level my resistances! Nonetheless, I don''t like being spied on¡­ okay, I signed away my privacy to CentralTank. Maybe I get a little kick out of the fact that people find me interesting. Whatever, buy some anti-scrying stuff for my lair."

    When Flora went down the list, she noticed that Aidan had been diligently leveling her new skills from the divine classes. On the other hand, most of the party-role skills were in their infancy. He was missing a party member to transfer aggro.

    "You could summon an elemental or even better, use the Golem." Flora had automatically received the last spell of the class, Animate Companion, when she learned the mount skill.

    Class:

    Animator

    Branch:

    Magic

    Passive:

    + 1 Training efficiency modifier for psychokinetics when you have a golem

    Active:

    The Golem inherits a fraction of your resistances and abilities

    STA:

    Animate Attacker:

    Animates an object to attack

    AoE:

    Storm of Debris:

    Animates all debris to attack.

    DEF:

    Animate Defender:

    Animates an object to defend

    MOV:

    Animate Mount:

    Animates an object as a ride

    SIG:

    Animate Companion:

    Animates a Golem. It can be assigned spells.

    "I''ll summon, Milady. You have to touch the golem for the new spell, Milady. We have no materials for it in the boxes."

    "I''ll add the materials. Please, buy the weapons I have liked but don''t own yet: a greatsword, a shield, no make it two shields, a small non-metal one for animating and a big one to hide behind, an arcane focus, and a kusarigama. I want only S rated stuff, but keep the expenses low because sooner or later, I''ll create my own set."

    Flora opened the advanced information for Animate Companion. After she gaped at the wall of text and formulas for a minute, she closed the display, blinked, and then chuckled.

    "Ok, I have questions. Nevermind, let''s first install the new boxes that you can level this beauty for me." Flora sprang up. "I''m excited!"

    First, she speed-carved a wooden doll on a string and hung it around her neck. Due to the minimum weight of 3.4 kg, it was quite heavy. Because the spell required her to touch the doll, she had to put it under her armor. Flora felt like a creep who secretly carried around her murdering puppet. "I won''t call you Chucky, that''s for sure. Let''s call you ImNice."

    Flora replaced the boxes with the four new ones in her workshop and the simulation grounds. Next to them, she placed a box with the removable rune-scheme discs and a weapon rack with a greatsword, foci, a rocket launcher, a Kusarigama, a tower shield, and her three mech-suits. She put the buckler in the boxes for animation training.

    Aidan had bought the weapons from the market place and because Flora''s only order was "cheap and S-rated," the effects on them were a bit strange.

    The greatsword was the cheese knife of a giant. Depressingly, it was the coolest looking weapon of the bunch.

    Name: Cheese Slayer

    Type: Greatsword

    Effect: + 3 to Sword-Fighting against cheese or targets that smell like cheese

    Effect: + 3 to Sword-Fighting while a food buff is active

    Tier: 1(2)

    Rating: S

    The Kusarigama had a metallic pink finish.

    Name: Pink Ninja-Kusarigama

    Type: Chain weapon

    Effect: + 3 to Chain Weapons while wearing pink ninja garb

    Effect: + 3 to Intimidation while doing kata''s

    Tier: 1(2)

    Rating: S

    The shield looked like a grey tower, including battlement and a princess, drawn with the skill of a fifth-grader.

    Name: Tower-Tower Shield

    Type: Shield

    Effect: + 2 to Blocking while in a tower, defending or conquering a tower

    Effect: Less stamina consumption when climbing stairs

    Tier: 1

    Rating: S

    Name: Elder Wand with Authentic Effects

    Type: Arcane Focus

    Regular Mode: 1 OV Mana-Regeneration

    Built-In Skill: Shoot damaging cantrip; Cost: 1 mana; CD: 2sec;

    Effect: + 3 OV to every mage skill

    Curse: Stops working forever for you when you die while it''s bound

    Tier: 1

    Rating: S

    It was a bumpy and crooked stick, just begging to be broken in half.

    Name: Mirror, Mirror in the Hand

    Type: Shield

    Effect: + 2 OV to Physical Power when you ask the buckler Who is the most beautiful in the land. Duration: 25 min.

    Effect: + 3 OV to Poison Attacks.

    Tier: 1

    Rating: S

    Flora groaned and giggled when she inspected her new toys. Nevertheless, she learned a valuable lesson: Rating isn''t everything.

    "Our training focus should be getting the new skills leveled up. Concerning affinities, I want to level my favorite ones, which are Psychokinesis, Lightning, and Ice. Water has impressed me with its utility and Wood with its damage. Leveling Faith is a must because Evailyn said she could only speak freely when I reach level 250 in Faith." Flora thought aloud. "Let''s look at the boxes and pools we have available.

    Body 1 with pool-values 1 ¨C Cetviwos:

    I''m only in Box when in my Lair and currently sitting in a classroom meditating. Hmm, I have portable boxes, but it would be impolite to use them during class.

    Body 2 with pool-values 1 ¨C Flora''s Workshop:

    Boxing Box 2.0 with Faith, Lightning, and Ice. Hands: Twelve-Changing-Finger-Positions Rubber-Training-Glove, Shield.

    Body 3 with pool-values 2 ¨C Simulation Ground:

    Boxing Box 2.0 with Psychokinesis, Wood, and Faith. Hands: Wrench, Twelve-Changing-Finger-Positions Rubber-Training-Glove.

    Body 4 with pool-values 3 ¨C Deriga''s Workshop:

    Acid Pool with Faith, Lightning, and ¡­ a random Element. Hands: Ring. Probably, I can''t wear gloves while swimming. Let''s try it out another time.

    Body 5 with pool-values 4 - Bedroom

    No Box. Maybe I should wear Twelve-Changing-Finger-Positions Rubber-Training-Gloves while sleeping."

    After Flora arranged her bodys in boxes, she went back to the lecture.

    In the classroom, every student had received 5 kg of tier 1 clay. Aidan bought and transported the clay to Flora''s bedroom that she could join the exercise.

    "We do the classic humanoid model?Two legs, two arms, and one head." The teacher said while she explained the process of working with clay.

    Flora was familiar with pottery. The tier 1 clay was malleable but held the form exceptionally well. If they had used earth clay, the heavy arms would have broken away from the torso.

    While the other students struggled with the basic shape, Flora added fingers, toes, and a cute face with a bulb nose, a grinning mouth, and big eyes.

    When Flora glanced at the screen, she saw the Octopussy creating a Flora-golem.

    "Aidan! Don''t use my countenance! There are already too many Flora-looking entities in this world. Model someone, we have no qualms about smashing up. Oh, I know! Give the people spying on us something to think about, use the guild leader of the SwordOfMichael." Flora grinned. She didn''t know who ran surveillance on her, but her bet was on the CoCC clan at the center of Aito''s conspiracy diagram.

    "If you form the golem yourself, you get + 1 OV bonus on all stats. Very valuable, even crucial at the lower levels." The Woodling said as she walked through the classroom, helping the students. When she reached Flora, she shook her head. "Oh my, I thought I had taught magic to all kinds of beings, now I can add robots to the list. Very nice work, Octopussy."

    "Thank you, Ma''am," Aidan answered as politely as always. The teacher was right; Flora could even recognize the face of Sergius Cathedral.

    "The spell Animate Companion only adds the sense of touch to your golem. For every five Mana-Regeneration invested, you get one more sensory organ. Our first animation will be for 5 MR/min, so I suggest you add sight." The teacher drew a triangle in an ellipse on the blackboard. "Carve this glyph into the place from which you want the golem to see. Common places are in the eyes or on the forehead."

    Flora and Aidan chose the forehead while the teacher showed them the glyphs for smell and hearing.

    "Every Golem has at least one magic emitter. You can use a glyph to place it on the body, or you add a crystal that functions as a focus for it. If you can''t produce the crystal yourself, it might be advantageous to buy one. You''ll lose the + 1 OV self-crafting bonus, but a focus usually gives more bonuses and allows your golem to shoot cantrips." The teacher pointed her wand to a stack of papers. With a flick of her wrist, one sailed to every student. "You get the blueprint for the tier 1 arcane version for free. The shops of the Halls of Magic sell the higher tier as well as elemental and intent versions."

    "Aidan, buy all the tier 1 rune-schemes that they have and we don''t," Flora said as she carved a wood disk with the arcane rune-scheme.

    "At the moment, your golem can''t use melee attacks, but when you get better with the spell or invest more mana-reg, your companion can physically attack. You can even equip them with weapons, but remember, they inherit their abilities from you. If you can''t wield a greatsword, don''t expect your golem to be proficient in it."

    Flora smirked smugly. "I know it was a good decision to buy that greatsword!"

    The video ended, and Flora instructed Aidan to resume it as soon as the teacher had finished a sentence.

    Finally, Flora cast the spell for the first time.

    \u003cAnimate Companion\u003e

    A popup appeared.

    ***************

    Assign two spells.

    ***************

    "Refresh and hmm¡­ Animate Companion!" Flora said, envisioning her army of golems with golems subordinates with golem subordinates with golem subordinates¡­

    ***************

    Error: Animate Companion is not available.

    Assign two spells.

    ***************

    "Refresh and Summon Elemental!" The army before Flora''s mind''s eye shrunk but was still impressive.

    ***************

    Message from the elemental planes: No elemental with any sense of self-worth would heed the call of a golem. Please affirm your selection.

    ***************

    "No," Flora sighed. "Then Refresh and Lightning Bolt. Oh my, they even manage to suck all the joy out of my new toys. Not all the joy! We will build toaster-robot-golems and then connect them to turrets robots, and I''ll have my army with toaster generals!"

    Flora cackled while her new golem pelted the dummy with lightning bolts.

    Name: Animate Companion

    Description: Animates a Golem. It can be assigned spells.

    Cooldown: 1 min.

    Range: Touch

    Duration: Link

    Cost: 25 mana + upkeep in MR/min

    Attribute: Var

    Affinity: Psychokinesis

    Range: 30 meters from Self (standard link connection)

    Golem Max Weight: 50 kg * (Skill OV + MPow OV)% per 5 Mr/min; Currently: 16kg / 5 MR/min

    Golem Min Weight: 5 kg - 5 kg * (Skill OV + MPow OV)% per 5 Mr/min, down to 1 kg per 5 MR/min, Currently: 3.4kg / 5 MR/min

    Golem Spells: 1 spell + 1 per 5 Mr/min; Spell Level: (Skill OV + MMac OV) Percent of Skills Level * (Mana-Reg Modifier)

    Golem Magical Attributes Level: (Skill OV + MMac OV)% of Magical Attribute Level * (Mana-Reg Modifier)

    Golem Physical Attributes: corresponding Magical Attribute OV/2 + Value from used Model

    Golem Affinities Level (Only when class is active): (Skill OV + MMac OV)% of Affinities Level * (Mana-Reg Modifier)

    Golem Abilities Level (Only when class is active): (Skill OV + MMac OV)% of Abilities Level

    Golem Senses: Touch is free + 1 Sense Organ per 5 MR/min. [List of Sense Symbols]

    Golem Magic Emitter: [List of Magic Emitter Symbols]

    Golem Physical Attack Appendages: [List of PAA Symbols]

    Mana-Reg Modifier: 1 + Psychokinesis OV% * (invested MR/min / 10);

    Modifier: + 1 OV to all Golem stats when Golem is self-made.

 133 2.38 Animator â€“ Part 3

    "I think I''m ready to wear a cape!" Flora stated proudly. For her, a cape was the ultimate sign that you were a superhero¡­ or a supervillain, but SUPER in any case. "A golem cape! The clasp will be its eye, and I put the mana emitters on the shoulders as ornaments."

    When Flora drew it, the ornaments looked a lot like tentacles.

    "The teacher mentioned that it could physically attack as well¡­ how much do we have to level the spell for it?"

    "Roughly level 100 if you run it with 5 MR/min, Milady. If you invest 10 MR/min the golem can already attack with one appendage. It depends on your Magical Micro-Control, Psychokinesis Affinity, and even the Ambidextrous Ability as well."

    "And two mana emitters?"

    "We can''t obtain it with just leveling the spell. The value derives not only from your Spell OV but also from Magical Micro-Control, and the Ambidextrous Ability. We have to level the other two as well. Around level 140 on average should be enough. Even then, two magic emitters might be all we get in a long time. Adding physical attacking appendages is easier."

    "Placing a mana emitter on one shoulder would leave the blind spot too big." Flora elongated the tentacle that it could reach over her head, but she wasn''t sure if she wanted something waving around at the corner of her eye. "A cape that flutters even without wind would be fine, indeed. It could attack the enemies behind me."

    "You shouldn''t have enemies behind your back, Milady. That''s too dangerous even with the protection of a golem."

    "True. I should shelve the idea. I can''t put a cape in armor, much less a mech-suit." Flora started a new page. "Please ask the teacher if a golem gets stat bonuses from armor. It should be the case if it can equip weapons, right?"

    "Beep beep." Aito sent a link to a forum discussion about a game update in which CentralTank patched away the armor bonuses for companions to the outrage of some animal lovers. One vocal owner of a panther had invested too many VirDos in a sweater with "Mummy''s favorite Kitty" with suitable stats. Some other users looked at the positive aspects like saving money. Companions like robots and animals were expensive enough even without adding the cost of their equipment.

    "Now, the cape rises in my appreciation again. Give me some numbers of the golem''s stats at 5 MR/min, 10 MR/min, and 15 MR/min. We can get to level 50 in a night or two, so use that as skill level."

    Aidan complied but mentioned that with two nights of leveling, the golem might be able to use two melee appendages with 15 MR/min.

    Flora inspected the stats. They were quite nice compared to what she remembered about the robots.

    "May I cast the spell on my golem in the classroom, Milady?"

    Aidan-Octopussy took the hand of the meditating Flora and laid it on his model of the CoCC clan leader. Bluish energy flowed from the body''s hand into the golem, and it started to move.

    Flora wasn''t sure how she felt about being puppeteered. On an intellectual level, she knew that Aidan did it in the boxes but witnessing the process was uncanny.

    ''When the robot overlords conquer the world, will they use human puppets for magic?'' After the thought crossed her mind, she laughed. Of course, there was no magic in the RL, so no need for human puppets, and AI''s had no problem using magic in the Cetviwos as long as they weren''t robots or personal assistants.

    "Now, we will go over the profits from leveling Milestones. Companion skills differ quite a bit from damaging skills in this regard." The Woodling said, and Flora immediately switched her attention to the teacher. She had never asked herself how the Milestones would effect summoning.

    "Nothing changed with the first Milestone, First Improvement. You''ll still get a 10% bonus to your modded OV. Second Luck usually gives you a 20% chance for a lucky hit, which raises the damage or healing of skills. For Animate Companion skills, it raises the mana regen investment by 20% without you having to pay for it."

    Immediately Flora thought that it was worth trying the spell multiple times for a stronger companion, but then the video continued.

    "That chance will be applied every minute anew. So the stats of your companion will fluctuate when your skill is above level 50."

    Flora was glad for that mechanic. It would have sucked waiting for the cooldown to finish just to have no luck with the spell and biding time for the next attempt.

    "Usually, Third Wind gives you a bonus to the effect of the skill when the target of the skill is below 30% health. Because the spell''s target is the golem and it should be in pristine condition, this Milestone works for Animate Companions like with your Attributes: When your health is below 30% the golem will get stronger."

    "Nice." Flora looked up the Summon Elemental spell. The same Milestones applied to it. Unfortunately, there was no skill for robots, so they didn''t profit from the Milestones of their owner.

    "Fourth Intersection brings a huge improvement to the table. 40% of the OV of the crafting ability you used for creating the golem will be added to the Skill OV."

    "I didn''t include the Fourth Intersection in my calculation about when we can get the second mana emitter, Milady."

    "Never mind, dear. Level 200 is a few days of leveling away."

    "Around 2300 hours if you stay level 1, Milady."

    "Oh my!" Flora spluttered. "Good that I will start leveling soon. Show me a comparison of the 15 MR/min Octopussy and the 15 MR/min golem after two nights of leveling."

    "The physical stats of the golem depend on materials used and rating of the model. Your current model is B-rated. Should I take it as base?"

    "No, I will craft an S-Rated model as soon as I know what I want¡­"

    Aidan delivered the data. The golem was the clear winner at first glance. However, the Rapid Fire was a great skill, albeit with a long CD, and the Octopussy had four laser-crystals while the golem only had one magic emitter and its attack appendages.

    "Give me the average DPS based on a 25-second rotation." Flora paused. "It might be unfair to compare them because the mana pool of the golem limits shooting spells while the rotation of the Octopussy can be sustained longer. Let''s make it half spells and half cantrips for the golem."

    "37 DPS for the Octopussy and 40 for the golem. However, I made a lot of assumptions in favor of the golem, Milady. On the other hand, Aito uses Rapid-Fire strategically and not on cooldown. By the way, there is a huge update on Thursday two. The numbers might change then."

    "Oh no, patching day!" Flora''s memories overflowed with all the buggy patches in her lifetime that made working impossible. "Do I have to log out for that?"

    "The business and school server gets patched at another time and can be accessed, but users get encouraged to log out. Usually, you get 100 VirDias for not being connected to the Cetviwos during that time."

    "Are the updates always on Thursday Two?" Flora had her mother-son-date on Thursday afternoons. Now, she suspected that Robby put it on purpose in that time-slot.

    "Yes, Milady. They happen every two weeks, but there are unscheduled updates as well."

    "I have taught my son well. He doesn''t lose gaming time, and I can spend time with him?a win-win situation." Flora laughed.

    "You all got a taste of the power of golemancy. Now, what can you do to improve the physical stats of your golem?" The teacher started to explain crafting tricks. They were quite obvious?for greater dexterity: create flexible and delicate appendages, for more defense: use strong materials as the outer shell, for more hit-points: make it bigger.

    Meanwhile, Flora experimented with directing her clay figure. "Attack the dummy. Dodge when I throw something at you and jump when I clap."

    The golem hit the dummy with lightning, and Flora flung a wooden board at it. Dutifully, it ducked under it, but then it just stood there, looking at Flora.

    "Resume attacking, dear."

    The golem followed her order and didn''t react at all when Flora threw the board again. It toppled over and lay still on the floor.

    "Oh no! I killed Golly!" Flora exclaimed, but then saw on her HUD that it still had HP left. Hastily, she shot at Healing Waterball at it. The golem didn''t move, even though its health was now full.

    Flora narrowed her eyes at the clay figure, which played dead. "Okay, attack the dummy. Dodge when I throw something at you and jump when I clap. Otherwise, keep attacking."

    The little golem resumed the attack, still lying unmoving at the floor.

    Flora sighed. What could she do? Yelling didn''t work at all on a 5 MR/min golem. It had no ears. Although she could guide it through the link, its lack of common sense seemed to be problematic. Her AIs had spoiled her.

    "Our lesson comes to its end. We have ten more minutes to go over your questions," the teacher said.

    "Ask her, whether a golem can have nocks, Aidan." Flora hadn''t given up on her cascading army idea. Additionally, she could give the golem one of Aidan''s or Aito''s jacks and they could direct it.

    The teacher listened to Aidan''s question and shook her head. "A nock has too much metal in it. It interferes with the golem''s magic."

    "But what about mithril nocks or technomancy? We will ask the experts at the Magetech Institute directly. Meanwhile, we''ll do tests. Bring an Octopussy to the bedroom, Aidan." Flora said while she cast Animate Companion again.

    ***************

    Assign two spells.

    ***************

    "Establish Link and Refresh." Flora patted the golem on the head. "Now establish the strongest possible link with the Octopussy."

    The octopus started to move.

    "Which of you is connected? Let me guess¡­ it''s Aidan, right?" Flora could feel her links to her companions quite strongly. Now the faint shadow of another link, originating at the golem and pointing to the Octopussy, had appeared.

    Aidan felt like a crystal tower, clear and solid, Aito like a mobile art piece with many layers, you never quite know what part will face you, and when you poke it, it will move away. Golly felt like a potato sack. Flora imagined feeling a crystal tower flavored Octopussy through all the potatoes, but was far from sure.

    "Yes, Milady."

    "How do you feel, and can you communicate with Golly through the link?"

    "The Octopussy receives 13 MR/min, the current OV of Establish Link, so the connection is strong. I will level the spell more because its OV is smaller than the Magical Regeneration of the golem. I will suggest that the golem should jump."

    "Good thinking, Aidan," Flora commented while watching the unmoving Golly. "Golly, listen to Aidan. That''s the guy who operates the Octopussy."

    Nothing happened.

    "Golly, imitate the Octopussy."

    Aidan shot at the dummy, and the golem raised his arms as if they were tentacles and mimicked shooting. At least cantrips came out of its hand where Flora had added the magic emitter stone focus.

    Flora felt like crying but had to laugh. She laughed even harder when she looked at the empty classroom. The lesson had ended without her noticing it.

    "I''m so ready to call it a day, but we have to finish the Sweeping Blow Aptitude Test. Com''on, crew. Back to work."

 134 2.39 SBAT â€“ Companion Administration

    "Don''t eat my robot!" Flora said and slapped the dinosaur''s muzzle away.

    "Don''t hit my baby chicks!" A guy riding the biggest raptor yelled back.

    "I won''t hit it if it leaves me alone!"

    "It would have left you alone if your octopus didn''t provoke it!"

    Because Aidan was connected to the Octopussy, Flora was very sure that he wasn''t at fault. Nevertheless, making sure you had your facts straight was a part of being responsible.

    Flowing Flowers to Aidan: "Do you know what he means?"

    "I''m very sorry, Milady. Aito asked me to check whether the feathers on the tail of the raptor were real or armor."

    "Aito!"

    *Beep?*

    "Don''t touch tails without the consent of their owner!"

    *Beheheheeep*

    Flora gritted her teeth.

    "I guess I owe you an apology. I''m sorry for my robot''s transgression." Flora said to the rider who dashed next to her.

    "Haha, good that you realize who''s the culprit." The big man laughed wholeheartedly.

    Flora flipped one of the Mana-Spring Coins over to him. "Please take that gift for your troubles."

    "Hey, thanks. That''s a classy move, lady. I know everything about misbehaving pets, so I understand. Good luck." The rider sped away.

    "I''m very sorry, Milady," Aidan repeated.

    "It''s okay, Aidan. Please learn from your mistakes. That counts for you as well, Aito."

    *Beeeeep¡­* Aito sounded like a sullen teenager.

    "And were the tail feathers real?" Flora knew she shouldn''t encourage her, but she wanted to know as well.

    *Beep! Beheheheeeep!*

    Back at the testing facilities, Flora met her guide again.

    "Very sorry, pardon, very sorry!" The fairy Friedhilde chirped while flying laps around Flora''s head. "I received the result of the Direct Effects versus Effects over Time test. Here you go!"

    ***************

    Summary:

    Flowing Flowers has an impressive talent for managing damage over time effects.

    However, her direct damage is so great that she will kill all enemies before the strength of a DoTs playstyle shows its advantages.

    Therefore I have no class recommendation concerning the two playstyles because other aspects of the SBAT are more critical.

    ***************

    Flora shrugged. She enjoyed the planning and the juggling of the playstyle, but she agreed with the assessment that this aspect wasn''t important to her.

    Next, she went over her Sweeping Blow Aptitude Test list.

    1. Primary Attribute - Check

    2. Weapon Talent - Check

    3. Party Role - Check

    5. Companion Administration

    6. Single Target versus Area of Effect - Check

    7. Casting Talent

    8. Driving Test

    9. Artistic Talent

    10. Direct Effects versus Effects over Time ¨C Check

    "Let''s do the Companion Administration next. I have questions after working with the golem and the actions of a certain AI," Flora said, poking Aito mentally.

    The AI just giggled again.

    Friedhilde guided them to a wood-dome.

    ***************

    Companion Administration

    This test has three phases:

    1. Guide your companion

    2. Instruct your companion

    3. Fight alongside your companion

    You may use your own or the provided companions. Please choose a companion with whom you can''t verbally communicate.

    You may skip or repeat any phase.

    ***************

    "So no AI-controlled robots, hmm." Flora had no confidence in doing well in this test. Usually, Aidan administrated even her turrets, and Bliz regularly made errors while adventuring, probably due to her lack of guidance.

    The dome changed to the same obstacle course Flora had conquered during the Agility test. Next to the starting line, four figures appeared: a panther, a zombie, a metal elemental, and an imp.

    Just by looking at the zombie, Flora felt the urge to puke and toast it to ashes. His glistering guts were hanging out the stomach.

    "Vanish the zombie, dear test, or I''ll make a mess," Flora begged with her hands over her eyes.

    ***************

    Okay.

    ***************

    Flora peeked through her fingers and lowered her arms when she saw only three creatures.

    The elemental was by far the cutest and smallest with the tip of his silvery head only reaching Flora''s hips. He consisted of metal and had a shiny round nose and an impressive wiry beard.

    "Terminator-Gimli?" Flora grinned. Although the elemental looked more like a lawn gnome than a dwarf, Flora felt her description was spot-on.

    The imp was quite a bit taller than the elemental. He reached Flora''s hip without the assistance of the gnome''s headgear despite his crooked chicken legs. With leathery red wings, tiny horns, and a grin with too many teeth showing he was only a bit cute, but who was Flora to judge demonic beauty.

    The black cat yawned, and Flora was sure it could eat the imp with three bites.

    The obstacle course had a 2-meter high wall to scale. Flora trusted the imp and the cat to conquer it but doubted Terminator-Gimli or Bliz could do it. Then there was a net of wires for belly-crawling. Unlike Bliz, Terminator-Gimli had at least hands to assist with groveling and the ladder at the start of the course.

    Flora considered animating a golem. Because it inherited her free-running ability, it might do well with obstacle courses. However, she wanted time to develop a nice model, and the rushed make-do constructions she had to create for leveling and the workshop vexed her.

    Of course, the Octopussy could destroy the course.

    "Let''s give Bliz a chance." Flora sighed and summoned the icicle shaped elemental. "Can you scale these walls or the ladder?"

    Enthusiastically, Bliz swayed back and forth.

    "Alright, go for it, dear!" Flora was intrigued.

    Bliz stormed towards the ladder and rammed into the first step.

    Concerned, Flora readied a Healing Ice Bolt as the icicle flipped over, and her bottom part hit the second step. But then her top swung upwards to the third step and slid over it.

    Flora gaped.

    Swinging and flipping, Bliz moved up the ladder like a reversed climbing-monkey toy.

    "Great job, dear!" Flora cheered and clapped while Bliz did a little dance on top of the ladder. "Go to the next obstacle."

    Bliz arrived at a ditch filled with water and small platforms to hop on. She stopped and looked at Flora.

    "Go on, dear." Flora encouraged her.

    The icicle glided over the water, ignoring the platforms.

    *hoot* The disqualifying siren echoed through the dome.

    "Great start, but you have to use the stepping stones for crossing the ditch," Flora said. "Let''s try again."

    ***************

    Please, don''t instruct your companion before the test. That''s the approach for the second phase. Instead, use your link to guide it while it completes the course.

    ***************

    "Ah!" Flora had an epiphany. "The guidance of the first phase should be like those mental nudges I give my AI''s, right?"

    "Probably, Milady," Aidan said after the test remained silent.

    Mentally, Flora shoved Bliz back to the starting line. Below Bliz''s enthusiasm and eagerness, she felt some confusion and doubt.

    "Sorry, dear. That was a bit rough. You did nothing wrong. I''m learning to improve our communication over the link and overdid it."

    The confusion vanished, and Bliz transmitted more eagerness, maybe even a smidge of sympathy.

    Flora tested the connection by gently prodding Bliz to move left and right. The little elemental reacted promptly.

    "Alright. Let''s do this again! Oops!" Flora covered her mouth. "No more talking!"

    The obstacle course was U-shaped, so Flora went to the middle. Here she remained always in the range of the connection without the necessity to move much.

    Flora nudged Bliz in the direction of the top of the ladder. Bliz dashed towards it and crashed into the first step again. Even though Flora had seen it before, she still flinched.

    When Bliz reached the top, Flora pointed mentally to the ditch.

    This time, Flora conveyed to use the stepping stones. She felt insecure about the image she had transmitted. It was the stones coupled with a hopping feeling. Was she micro-managing the elemental? She didn''t want to order how Bliz should conquer an obstacle.

    The elemental was already on the other side of the water, so Flora dismissed the thought. Mentally, she drew a line over the wall.

    Bliz rammed the wall and stayed attached to it. Slowly, she crept upward, leaving an icy trail. When she reached the top, she flipped over and landed on the ground.

    "Next!" Flora exclaimed and immediately covered her mouth again.

    Nonetheless, Bliz climbed over the second wall.

    The consequent obstacle was the belly crawl, and Flora conveyed the feeling of passing under the wires.

    Bliz answered her with an idea of her sliding. Her thoughts felt vague, tumbling, and of course, enthusiastic and were accompanied by a cool sensation.

    It was the first time Flora received something different than an emotion from the icicle. She was intrigued.

    The elemental picked up speed and went bottom first under the wires, gliding through the obstacle in record time.

    Flora sends her jubilation through the link, and Bliz echoed it.

    Next, Flora mentally sketched a line over the plank that led up to a boulder and down another balancing beam on the other side.

    The plank led into a labyrinth with waist-high walls. Although Bliz couldn''t look over them, Flora could survey the entire construction without problems. Gently, she guided Bliz through sharp turns to the finishing line.

    "You did such a good job, dear!" Flora sprinted to Bliz, picked her up and whirled her around. Now, she felt much closer to the elemental than before the test. Maybe it was a side effect of telepathic communication.

    Flora sat her down and patted her on the top. "Ready for the next phase?"

    Bliz swayed back and forth, her usual signal for yes, but now Flora could feel not only her eagerness but also her consent.

    ***************

    Phase 2

    Instruct your companion for the next obstacle course.

    During the run, you won''t be able to communicate with it.

    ***************

    While Flora read the message, the obstacle course transformed. Now it started with the labyrinth, then came the walls. The stepping stones had vanished from the ditch; instead, there where ramps at both sides of the water. The four balancing beams stood on the floor in a zigzag. Next came a tube, and last a cargo net.

    Flora explained the challenges to Bliz, while the hyperactive elemental zipped around her.

    "Repeat the steps to me, dear."

    Flora received something like: "Zip, zip, zip zip zizzzip, thwup, hop, hopple di hop, hop, zishshhhhhhhh, swishhhhhhh, flipliplippydiliplip dip zip."

    "Er¡­ well sounds about right. You got that!"

    And Bliz did. She zipped, dashed, and glided through the course like a pro. Only the ramps on the ditch gave her some problems, and the walls slowed her down?jumping wasn''t her strength. Flora was most impressed by her performance on the cargo net; like a needle, she threaded upward through the loops.

    ***************

    Phase 3

    Undertake the obstacle course together with your companion. Either of you must hit three targets and don''t get hit by the bombs.

    ***************

    "Bombs?" Flora looked half panicky and half excited at the changed obstacle course. She spotted neither targets nor bombs but notified Bliz to stay alert.

    The two females started the course by balancing over a swaying beam. When they reached the middle, a target face appeared. Flora nudged Bliz, and she shot icicles at it.

    Just as they left the beam, Aidan announced that a bomb was incoming. Even though it blinked red and shrieked, Flora would have missed it because she was busy planning how to tackle the next target. On the other hand, her plan included leaving the current area, so it wouldn''t have mattered.

    \u003cRiding the ice\u003e

    Flora imitated Bliz and slid feet first under the wires while the bomb exploded behind them.

    The team conquered the rest of the course without an error.

    "That was fun! Thank you, Bliz."

    Flora said goodbye to the little icicle because she wanted to try out the other companions.

    After she touched the imps head, she felt the connection to him. Instead of Bliz''s enthusiasm, she sensed sharp malice.

    "Don''t be like that, little devil. We have a common goal."

    Flora nudged him to move to the starting line, but the imp fought against her will and stood still. Only when Flora mentally shoved him, he moved.

    "No, that won''t do. Dismissed!"

    Next, Flora connected to the panther. Leisurely, it stood up and moved to the line without haste.

    Flora tested it further by nudging it to the left and the right. The cat complied but snarled at her afterward and immediately lay down again, licking its paw.

    "Dismissed."

    The metal gnome felt friendly and helpful but didn''t show initiative, although he impressed Flora by using his beard as additional appendages when climbing the ladder. Hence Flora dismissed him after the first phase.

    When Flora mused whether she should try out another one of her elementals or the golem, her gaze felt on her cooldown bar. Summon elemental had a 25 min CD, but she couldn''t find it there.

    \u003cSummon Lightning Elemental\u003e

    A lightning bolt with several branches appeared in front of Flora. She rechecked her cooldowns, and the bar was still empty.

    Grinning, Flora rubbed her hands. "Aidan, say stop when I summon an elemental with Bolt, an AoE, and a movement skill or Re-Generate or an elemental with two healing spells."

    \u003cSummon Lightning Elemental\u003e

    \u003cSummon Lightning Elemental\u003e

    \u003cSummon Lightning Elemental\u003e

    ¡­

    Flora happily spent the next minutes exploiting the zone. A few elementals met her conditions, but she didn''t like their personality, so she continued summoning.

    "Stop, Milady," Aidan said again.

    This time a simple-looking bolt had manifested in front of her. He felt majestic and ready to strike.

    "Hello, dear," Flora cooed.

    The bolt flashed brightly, and Flora felt that she had his full attention.

    The elemental demolished the course under Flora''s guidance. He reacted fast and accurately. Like Bliz, he only needed a light touch, but he let Flora feel his displeasure when she gave him overly detailed instructions. He had a bit of an arrogant streak. Nonetheless, Flora enjoyed working with him.

    **************

    You gained an achievement: Companion Administration Record ¨C Elemental

    Reward: + 1 OV Summon Elemental

    **************

    "Do you want to join my team?"

    Flora sensed a tiny reaction from him, the equivalent of a raised eyebrow. She smirked at him. "I''ll show you my power."

    \u003cArcane Spring\u003e

    \u003cLightning Storm\u003e

    As lightning bolts rained on them, Flora raised her other hand and made lightning arc into the sky.

    \u003cLightning Arc\u003e

    ***************

    The lighting elemental Kaytsak has offered you his name.

    ***************

    "Welcome to the team, Kaytsak." Flora grinned.

    Flora had a container full of materials with her, so she selected a block of tier 1 stone. After she carved it up into the shape of a puppet, she raised her skill by chain casting Animate Companion. When she hit level 25, she assigned 15 mana, Energy Jump, Kinetik Stride, and Super-Over-Blown, the spell which increased your movement speed, to it?the perfect combination to crush a record.

    Now that Flora had more experience directing companions, choosing the right amount of force to guide the golem came easier to her, although she still didn''t like the micro-managing.

    **************

    You gained an achievement: Companion Administration Record ¨C Golem

    Reward: + 1 OV Animate Companion

    **************

    "Very good," Flora grinned and fetched an Octopussy from her inventory.

    \u003cEstablish Connection\u003e

    Flora''s grin widened when she checked her empty cooldown bar. "Very, very good."

    She connected Octopussys to Aidan and Aito and summoned Kaytsak and Bliz. Then, she reduced the golem''s expense to 5 MR/min to level the playing field.

    "Dear elementals, in the next five hours these valiant Octopussys and the golem will do 500 laps on the obstacle course-"

    *BEEP*?

    Ignoring Aito, Flora continued, "Do you want to join their training? It''s optional for ELEMENTALS."

    Both elementals agreed, Bliz as enthusiastic as ever, Kaytsak warily.

    *beep!*

    "You are already complaining? You have at least two strands of consciousness. Let''s give the other something to do as well. I expect results for at least three of my open requests."

    *beep¡­ beep¡­* Aito sobbed.

    "Aidan level Animate Companion, Establish Connection and Summon Elemental as high as you can. You may buff Bliz and your own Octopussy, but don''t go overboard. Dear test, please add some targets to the course."

    After she made sure everybody understood the obstacle course, Flora installed her resting place in its center. She donned the Changing-Positions Gloves and strapped on another doll.

    "May the best companion win an awesome prize!" Announced Flora loudly and added more quietly: "I have to think about getting something nice for the golem¡­"

    One lightning elemental and one octopus glared at the hapless golem and took off.

    Laughing, Flora logged into her workshop.

 135 2.40 SBAT â€“ Wrap Up

    -- Victorious ¨C- (Kaytsak)

    *Beeeeeeeeeep!!!*

    "He earned it, Aito." Aidan protested.

    -- Excited, panting ¨C- (Bliz)

    Her mind exploded with the feelings and comments of her companions.

    "What is going on?" Flora rubbed her head.

    "Kaytsak has finished the 500 laps. Aito arrived one second behind him. The Golem and I are on our last lap. Bliz needs a few more."

    Flora logged out and gaped at her companions because of their horrible condition. Aito was charred and lost two of her tentacles. The golem had multiple dents. Although Flora couldn''t spot visible marks on the elementals, their HP bars were nearly empty. Only Aidan was fighting condition, but even his Octopussy missed parts like the vibro knife.

    "Did I sleep during a war? Did the Test use the bombs on you?"

    All companions turned to Aito, who flattened herself on the floor with her remaining tentacles over her head. When she changed the skin of the Octopussy to display white doves, Flora knew who the culprit was.

    "Aidan, explain."

    "Aito started with a tiny lead, and when the golem passed her, she tripped him. As Kaytsak reached her, he was prepared and retaliated her interference. From this point, the race escalated. Around lap twenty, we agreed on a cease-fire because your mana got tight due to the healing I had to do. In lap fifty-one, Bliz broke the truce on accident, probably. Her shot missed the target and-"

    "Enough! I''m very disappointed?err¡­ ?Okay, I''m very proud of you that you all have survived. I don''t know what to say. Good, that you respected that leveling my skill in this special environment is more important than your feud. I wish for us to be one team. Therefore we have to know each other well, and we have to be sure that we can rely on each other. I don''t know whether your behavior helped or damaged the goal. What do you think?"

    -- Approval ¨C (Kaytsak)

    -- Excitement ¨C (Bliz)

    *Beep!* Aito stood up and displayed crossed swords on her skin.

    "I didn''t like it, Mylady. It felt wrong to me to spend your mana on healing these rascals."

    The golem still felt like a potato-sack, so Flora didn''t expect an answer.

    "I take all of your opinions into consideration. For now, Kaytsak is the winner. Do you have any wishes for your reward?"

    Flora received a vague picture of a sparkly gem, but couldn''t identify it until Aito sent her a link. "A lightning core? Aidan, buy it. Kaytsak, I will summon you as soon as I have it."

    When Flora left the dome, she still felt wary and tired because of the workload of the last few days, but the thought of the next test, Crafting Talent, invigorated her.

    Before CentralTank employed him, he had worked for another VR-gaming company as GM and was used to irritable customers. However, the number of non-players and DAUs(1) who had joined the Cetviwos was unprecedented.

    The Administrator dealt with the true bugs, while the GMs dealt with customers who didn''t want to deal with AIs or frankly just wanted attention. In rare cases, the Administrator assigned GMs to customers who didn''t do anything illegal or had issues to solve but to shepherd them to use fewer resources.

    While the Cetviwos had computing power beyond any other application on earth, it wasn''t unlimited. Kumar remembered the spread of the Donkey Virus when 50 GMs cordoned off the infected area.

    In contrast to that server-wide event, his current assignment seemed trivial.

    Could one player in a closed environment like the Talpica Testing Center really stress the system so much that a GM was necessary to monitor the situation?

    Kumar shrugged. It wasn''t his job to question the bosses. He could only wait and see ¡­ and he waited for a long time. When he relieved the guiding fairy of her duties, the customer was already for 3 hours in the dome.

    What was taking her so long? How many companions did she test? He sat before the portal and waited for her to come out while he resolved the questions of the test.

    The test bombarded him with question after question so that he felt he was the examinee instead of the customer!

    It wanted to know what was more important: future potential or current might. He was a computer science major and not a philosopher! Sweating, he fought through the issues of the test until an older lady, followed by two octopus-shaped robots, appeared.

    Patting the nonexistent dust from his yellow robes, which showed the matrix light data-streams which identified him as Cetviwos staff, he stood up to his full height of 99 cm.

    In other games, the GMs developed god complexes and let their powers go to their heads. CentralTank gave their GMs great stats, a high level, and excellent skills, but their avatars had to be under a meter tall. They should look up to the customers, literally and figuratively.

    "Hello Ma''am, I''m GM Kumar. The administrator assigned me to you for the rest of the test to help to clear up any issues the testing AI has."

    The lady cooed and leaned down to him. "Aren''t you cute? Are you a gnome?"

    "I''m a GM, Ma''am." Kumar hoped she wouldn''t pet his head. He hated that the most.

    "Is that a hip slang for gnome? Shouldn''t there an ''N'' in it to make it more clear?Like GNM."

    Kumar started to sweat again. This was a hard-core DAU!

    "GM stands for gamemaster, Ma''am." He managed to say in his most professional tone.

    "Oh! I meet the mini-masters. Are you a grown-up mini-master? Err¡­ That was an honest question. I have no doubts you can be a full-grown man."

    Listen, Lady! Nobody would have thought you doubted my age if you hadn''t mentioned it! Kumar took a deep breath. "Gamemasters are employees of CentralTank. Our responsibility is to help the players out."

    "Fascinating! Thank you for your hard work."

    Mollified, Kumar led the woman to the next dome, the Crafting Talent Test, and followed her in.

    "I rushed through the first parts of the test. But for the crafting section, I will take my time to do it right!" The lady announced while the dome changed to a workshop. "We''ll do it slow and steady."

    The customer produced several days worth of data for the first few tests, and she claimed she had been in a hurry? Kumar started sweating again. Tomorrow, he had a date with a pretty classmate. He wanted to go when he was still young!

    When the mechanical parts materialized in front of the lady, they started to float. A turret was assembled by an invisible hand. No, not one hand, maybe a dozen hands!

    Wide-eyed, Kumar watched the process. Less than 20 seconds later, the turret was ready.

    "Slow and steady." The lady repeated, satisfied, and nodded.

    Kumar wanted to puke blood. You call that slow and steady? Lady, maybe you should look up the definitions of slow and fast in a dictionary! You seemed to have them confused.

    In the next few minutes, Kumar''s jaw hit the floor and stayed there. The lady built invisible circuits, engraved 200 runes with one stroke, and carved stones into S-rated artifacts as easy as he brushed his hair. He was a GM and had seen monsters hordes falling to fiery tornados as big as houses, dragon roars that flattened villages, and humans sprouting wings and competing with birds, but only now he felt like he witnessed true magic. The others only used special effects, while the magic of the lady flowed as if it were part of nature?as if it were a part of her essence and not a skill in a game.

    Kumar awakened of his stupor when a vial exploded on the customer''s workbench. The old lady cackled, then put her hand over her mouth and glanced at him.

    "I love explosions. You don''t mind, dear?"

    "Feel free, Ma''am." Kumar took two steps back. Now, he noticed a few messages from the test on how to rate the learning curve. How do you assess a learning curve when someone aced the task in 20 seconds? The test said that she slowed down for the last 5 seconds, and it didn''t know if it should lower the score because of it or if the customer''s intention to take it "slow and steady" was the reason for it.

    Slowly, Kumar got an idea of what made the system allocate unreasonably high resources to this auntie. Her words and actions were too contradictory. Coupled with an unprecedented performance, it posed a problem that couldn''t be solved by comparing her to other players. She was a category of her own.

    Another explosion accompanied by giggling snapped Kumar out of his thoughts.

    GM Kumar to SBAT: "Rate it 100. Anything else wouldn''t do the performance justice."

    The customers blurbed fire. "Sorry! I''m working on a potion that toasts bread inside the mouth." Half of her face was burned of, but it regenerated as Kumar watched her resuming the mixing.

    "GM Kumar, would you try this concoction? I''m on cooldown for it. I believe it''s much more gentle now. I''m nearly sure of it!"

    Kumar shook his head rapidly. He valued his well-being!

    After the Crafting Test, the customer underwent the Artistic Talent Test. She received a score in the lower 80s, and Kumar braced himself for complaints. The users contested this part of the test the most. Kumar himself would have rated her pictures and sculptures higher. However, the lady just shrugged, smiled, and went on to the next test.

    The Casting Talent Test left Kumar with his mouth open again. He had never seen anybody who used magic like this! He felt like laughing and crying simultaneously because the part she had the most problems with was the system assisted auto-mode that most players were using. Additionally, he learned some new cursing phrases involving toasters of all things!

    At the Alchemy Test, Kumar had feared for his well-being. At the Driving Test, he feared for his life. He couldn''t believe that somebody who had such a high degree of dexterity while crafting could treat a car or a drone like this! If the machines were pets, he would have called PETA because of cruelty to animals!

    The customer always started slowly and carefully, and just when he wanted to relax, all hell broke loose! Did she ever stop pressing the laser cannon button? No! The beams hit the floor, the ceiling, Kumar, and her robots¡­ everything in the dome except for the target butts. One time she even managed to shoot her own batticle in the foot. Most time, the phase ended with a crash into the walls, but the last attempt had to be cut short because she ripped the joystick out of the console.

    "Shoddy craftsmanship!" The auntie complained while staring at the stick in her hand, but then she paled.

    Until now, he had only experienced the customer having fun. Even when she had cursed, he felt she enjoyed the activities, and the cuteness of her expletives had amused him.

    Now, Kumar witnessed a different side of the customer. When she jumped off the smoking batticle and ran toward him, he felt like he stood in the way of a train. Thankfully, he wasn''t the target, but her robots who had hidden behind him. They jumped onto the lady''s back as she was sprinting past him.

    "Sorry, GM Kumar. Send me a letter with the results. An emergency has crept up. Thank you for your support, dear." She yelled before leaving the dome.

    Kumar stood still for a long time after the customer had left. What a peculiar old woman!

    (1) Dumbest assumable Use

 136 2.41 Breach

    "You have to leave the building for porting back to the Metaworld, Milady."

    "We take the shortest way out." Flora decided. Instead of following Aidan''s signals and entering the elevator, she pushed the activating button telepathically from outside.

    The door closed, and Flora heard the cabin shooting out.

    \u003cMagical Saw\u003e

    Flora sawed a hole in the door and slipped through it to the rollercoaster tracks. Standing on the rails, she had a clear view of the city center. Dozens of meters below her were the park and the highways parting the greenery. From this high up, the traffic looked as if ants had made technological progress and discovered magic at the same time.

    "This is a bad idea," Flora mumbled, slightly nauseated by the view. Before she could change her mind, she jumped off the tracks.

    Of course, Flora didn''t waste time, even when plummeting from a skyscraper.

    \u003cSuit-Up\u003e

    When her Messenger Mech-suit encased her, she had nearly reached the ground.

    \u003cRiding the Flash\u003e

    Flora shot forward. The gravitational pull and momentum from the spell meshed. Instead of hitting the ground vertically, she curved towards it.

    With a diving roll, she buffered the rest of the impact.

    \u003cI bow to you and roll with it\u003e

    Even with the damage reduction of the prayer, Flora lost over 20 percent of her health. However, her sanity has taken a bigger hit.

    "I''ll never do this again!" She swore, wide-eyed on trembling legs. After she took some deep breath while fetching turrets and weaponry from her inventory, she added."Not never never, more ''never'' in the sense of ''I''ll never drink again'', you know."

    With haste, Flora enchanted the golem with 15 mana and assigned it Establish Connection, Lightning Storm, Lightning Shield, and Magical Push. She hadn''t the time to ponder her selection but went with her gut feeling.

    Flora transferred Aidan-Octopussy to the golem and raised Aito-Octopussy''s MR/min to fifteen and filled the rest of her nocks with turrets.

    Set-Up:

    Nocks: 15 Aito-Octopussy, 5 Mech-Suit, Healing Turret, Repair Turret, 4 Laser Turrets, Mana-Battery.

    26 Nocks Total

    15 Golem: Establish Connection, Lightning Storm, Lightning Shield, and Magical Push

    3 Weapons

    0 Artifacts

    0 Boost

    0 Aura

    44 Sum Total

    When Flora entered the Metaworld, she appeared at the Server Square, the area of the Metaworld, where the portals to the game-worlds were located.

    "Yes, Milady!"

    "Beep!"

    "BLEAMTO Flowing Flower''s Lair TO BLEAM!"

    Flora and her team arrived on the teleportation circle on the first floor. The four laser turrets which defended the entrance were smoking wrecks. The repairing turret immediately went to work, and Flora joined it.

    \u003cCluster Maintenance\u003e

    "Milady, I regained contact with Haidan. Six enemies are in the Church and currently hacking him for access to the Production Hall. I''m going to support him."

    "How are they deployed? Are Haidan''s sensors still working?"

    "Yes, Milady. One is in the shop area, two demolishing the generators in the main room, two in front of Haidan''s control board at the escalator, and one roaming the offices. The female mech-suit operator in the shop and the male paladin next to the hackers seem to be very powerful. Haidan said they one-shot the turrets."

    The escalator was right next to the passage from Flora''s living quarters to the church. As the center of her lair, the flat was unbreachable. Because of Flora''s agreement with Evailyn, the church was open for everyone. Her production hall could be accessed by people on Flora''s white list and followers of the goddess.

    "Aito, go through the flat to the escalator and distract them. Just bully them, don''t let them bog you down." Flora handed the octopus ten traps. "Give me the signal when you are ready. We''ll storm the shop simultaneously."

    Aito vanished into the flat, and Flora regenerated her pools. She wanted to start in top condition.

    Flora tapped into the video feed and inspected all of her opponents. Last, she focused on the mech-suit user in the shop. The mech-suit was colored matt black with a camo-pattern in different shades of grey. It looked sleek and agile. Only the shanks and forearms were thicker than usual. Currently, the operator destroyed the counter of the shop, and the wood splintered under her powerful punches.

    Plans and skills flitted through Flora''s head as she clutched her multitool wrenches with more strength than necessary. Hundreds of possibilities of how this could go very wrong and hundred of ways of how this could be easy fought in her head. To calm her nerves, Flora took deep breaths.

    \u003cLighning Shield\u003e

    *Beep*

    "Go!" Flora yelled in her mind and dashed through the entrance.

    \u003cIcicle Cannon\u003e

    Behind Flora, Aidan and the turrets went through the door. It was only big enough for one turret at a time, so Flora reached the operator before the second turret entered. Nonetheless, the robots started firing as soon as they had the target in sight.

    The mech-suit woman spun around and crouched behind the counter. Although she reacted decisively, Flora''s icicles still had hit her, as did some of Aidan''s shots.

    \u003cIce Beam\u003e

    The arm of the woman appeared when Flora was just one meter in front of her.

    Flora''s eye''s widened when she saw three cannons folding out of the forearm of the mech-suit. At that distance, she had no chance to react as thick slugs smashed into her torso. Flora staggered and lost control over the Ice Beam. However, she had a target now.

    \u003cMagical Pull\u003e

    Ensnared in Flora''s spell, the mech-suit slid over the counter. Its second barrage flew wide, but the woman spun in the air and hit Flora boots first.

    Flora tumbled and went to the ground. Instantly, she rolled back to her feet. However, being hit by her own pull left a sour feeling in her mouth.

    \u003cI bow to you and roll with it\u003e

    Just when she straightened herself out, the woman kicked her so hard in the stomach that Flora''s feet left the floor. An elbow smashed into her neck and flattened her.

    Thankfully, Aidan and two turrets had passed the door and were shooting at the woman.

    Using Flora as a doormat, the woman stepped on her and whirled around in a spinning kick towards the entry. Even with the slowing effect of the ice, she was still devilishly fast. From the sole of her boot, light arced into the direction of the robots

    Although the turret army was several meters away, the light pushed them back and jammed the doorway again.

    Flora was absolutely flabbergasted. Nobody had ever treated her as their doormat literally, and those who did so figuratively soon regretted it. ''Not as much as she will bemoan stepping on me!''

    Rolling around, Flora simultaneously kicked upwards and channeled another Ice Beam.

    While Aidan sorted out the fallen turrets, Golly sprang to action. He leaped over the robots while shooting cantrips at the mech-suit operator.

    Unfortunately, the two intruders from the main hall of the church had arrived, too. An archer shot a golden arrow at the two fighting women. In the last second, it split into two, one hitting the mech-operator and one Flora.

    Flora knew the skill from her Anti-Ranger PVP training. It was from the Gamekeeper class and healed one target and damaged the other. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a hawk swooping towards her.

    Desperation grew in Flora. She couldn''t even deal with the mech-suit operator. How could she cope with three additional opponents? Was all her training in vain? ''No! Concentrate on the fight! Fret when you are dead!''

    Still on the floor, Flora cast her standard spell to force her mind back in the game.

    \u003cBless and Condemn\u003e

    "I''m your target!" A heavily armored, shield-bearing guy yelled before he charged at Flora.

    At the same time, the mech-operator brought her two fists down on Flora, who was just picking herself up. Light and Pain exploded from her back, but she still managed to get up, albeit blinded.

    \u003cSuper Wavebreaker\u003e

    Flora had only used the spell one time before when she acquired it. It was the water version of Super-Charge, a ten-second buff that cleared most of her status effects as soon as they arrived and slowed time.

    When Flora regained her sight, she almost wished she hadn''t. The warrior was closing in, the mech-suit user had pulled back her arm for another strike, the hawk clawed at her helmet, and the ranger rained arrows on her poor robots.

    Thankfully, her companions weren''t idle. Laser beams zipped on the Ranger at a speed only Rapid-Fire could produce, and Lightning from Golly''s storm rained down on Flora''s attackers.

    Flora didn''t want to be hit by Charge. She remembered the impact on the insectoids too well. Thanks to the slowed time, she spotted an opening in the stance of the warrior, and she instinctively knew what to do.

    Taking a half step out of his charging path, she grabbed his arm and spun.

    Jiu-Jitsu for the win!

    The warrior crashed into the mech-suit operator. While the former collapsed in a heap, the impact was only enough to make the woman stumble back.

    \u003cLightning Breath\u003e x 2

    Tendrils of lightning arced out of Flora''s hands, hitting not only the freshly smashed warriors but also the hawk.

    "Status!" Flora demanded through gritted teeth while channeling the elemental force.

    "Gamekeeper dead, Mech Operator ca. 20 % health, Warrior ca. 60% health, Hawk ca. 50%. Aito-Octopussy 28% health, Turrets around 40%, Flora 65%, Aidan-Octopussy 93%, Golly 100%. Haidan and I are still defending against the Hacker successfully."

    Flora worried about Aito, but pushed the thoughts away. She had to concentrate on her current situation and trust the crafty AI.

    After the death of the ranger, the turrets had changed target to the warrior and then switched to the mech-operator. They had to hit the warrior to avoid getting debuffed from the taunt.

    Golly still channeled lightning storm. Together with Flora''s lightning, the secondary effect of the element caused the three remaining opponents to twitch helplessly.

    "Break!" The mech-suit operator screamed. A blue glow enveloped her, and she jumped out of the range of Flora''s breath.

    The last thing Flora wanted to happen was letting her escape. ''Should I stop the breath and attack her? As sure as toasted bread!''

    \u003cSmite\u003e!

    The mech-suite operator had nearly reached the door when she perished. Her death took a load off Flora''s mind.

    While the hawk had turned into a roasted chicken, the Warrior swung his sword towards Flora.

    Now that she had nothing to worry about besides the less skilled player and with her full army pelting him, he was as good as dead.

    "Aito is fleeing towards us, Milady. The paladin and a mage are on her tail. ETA: 4 seconds."

 137 2.42 Breach â€“ Part 2

    Aidan had warned Flora that the arriving paladin was a tricky opponent and that a mage accompanied him didn''t make the situation better.

    The warrior was still alive as well. After he had picked himself up, he attacked Flora with his sword.

    "Get yourself and the turrets out of the line of sight from the door," Flora commanded Aidan, ignoring the sword striking her mech-suit.

    \u003cSmite\u003e!

    Golly joined Flora in the melee, pelting the warrior in the head while still shooting cantrips out of the crystal on his forehead.

    "Trip up Aito''s chaser when they come through and ready the repairing turret to heal her Octopussy as soon as she appears."

    \u003cSmite\u003e!

    "Warrior''s Might, embrace-" The shield guy yelled, but Flora interrupted him with a strike against his throat. When the next salvo of the turrets hit, he perished.

    Just as the warrior fell to the ground, Aito dashed through the door. One of her tentacles grabbed the frame, and she used the resistance to take a tight turn. After a short flight, she slid across the floor and halted 10cm in front of the repairing turret.

    \u003cCluster Maintanance\u003e!

    Flora channeled the repairing spell, albeit she could hear the enemies. Not only would Aito profit from it but also her mech-suit needed a fix. The invaders had destroyed the defensive turrets of the shop. If Flora could repair them enough, her offense would grow.

    "Shield yourself, Golly." Flora pondered if she should take cover herself and let the golem take the first salvo. However, before she had decided, the enemies stormed through the door.

    At least, they tried. Aidan''s tentacle reached out and bound the ankle of the leading guy, a dark-skinned man wearing golden armor and a shield hovering above him. His long strides dragged Aidan over the floor until the Octopussy entangled the legs of the redhaired mage. With a tug, both went down.

    "Splendid work, Aidan!" Flora cheered. "Hold tight!"

    When the paladin brandished his sword, Flora interrupted the repair work.

    \u003cEnergy Shield: Aidan-Octopussy\u003e

    The turrets and Aito shot at the downed mage, but the golden shield had flown into the path to protect him.

    "Is he an animator?" Flora wondered.

    "No, Milady. The paladin is a Divine Companion. The shield is one of the companions you can summon with this class."

    Golly cast Lightning Storm again, and Flora joined him while she closed the distance for using Breath.

    The mage shot a fireball at Aidan as the paladin''s sword hammered on the Energy Shield. When the paladin hit it again, it gave out, and the blade landed on Aidan''s tentacle.

    The AI retaliated by using its lasers point-blank on the paladin.

    \u003cLightning Breath\u003e x 2

    Shocked, the mage froze as Flora''s and Golly''s lightning electrified him.

    While the paladin did also suffer from the lightning, he managed to cast Fortification of Faith and hacked Aidan''s tentacle again. This time with success. He severed the appendage and sprang to his feet.

    "Bless and Condemn!" The paladin yelled, and light exploded like a supernova.

    "That''s my favorite prayer! How do you dare to use it against me!" Flora yelled back. That was almost as bad as hijacking one of her toasters!

    "Milady, beware. He has Retribution active. The prayer will reflect our damage."

    \u003cBless and Condemn\u003e!

    Flora didn''t care. She''ll show him who had the mightier prayer!

    While the robots stopped attacking, Golly and the healing turrets still were active.

    Now, the paladin and Flora faced off, casting Bless and Condemn in tandem.

    While Flora glared, the paladin smiled. At the third Bless and Condemn, he even started to chuckle.

    Flora rolled her eyes, but she had to smile as well at the situation: Two adults trying to outshine each other literally¡­ it was a bit pathetic, but funny too.

    "Who sent you?" Flora asked.

    \u003cBless and Condemn\u003e

    "I''m not telling." The grinning paladin glowed again.

    \u003cBless and Condemn\u003e

    "The Retribution is over. Do you want us to join in again, Milady?" Aidan asked while Aito reattached his tentacle.

    "Of course! Do you think I enjoy being a flickering light bulb?" Flora snarled telepathically?at least, she tried to sound grumpy, but she had too much fun."Alright, I do. Join in anyway."

    \u003cBless and Condemn\u003e

    After a few seconds of concentrated fire, the paladin died while saluting Flora.

    On the way to the last intruder, the hacker, Flora drank a mana potion. The prayer was nice but way too costly.

    The found the hacker with glassy eyes in front of the control panel of the house, near the elevator.

    On Flora''s command, the two octopuses wrapped him up with their vibro-knives at his throat.

    "Just a moment more." The scruffy haired young man mumbled.

    "I don''t think so. Any last words?"

    The hacker jolted awake and stared wide-eyed at Flora.

    "Er¡­ Your AIs are pretty awesome. Can you give me any advice on how to improve mine?" He smiled at her. "Please?"

    "Since when are robbers so nice? I don''t understand the young villains nowadays. They are so polite! What about tradition? Don''t they care about evil laughter and gloomy disposition¡­" Flora shook her head and grinned. Just when she wanted to impart the amazing effect of buying cheesy romance novels for AIs, Aidan messaged her.

    "He''s hacking my Octopussy, Milady."

    "Kill him! Don''t get blood on the carpet!" Flora looked away when the robots slit his throat. "I''m not built for this dirty work. Let''s repair the church."

    The mana generators in the main hall were destroyed. The wreckage lined the walls up to Flora''s hip. The sight of her demolished church stirred her heart.

    \u003cCluster Maintanance\u003e

    The parts flew back on the wall and assembled themselves back into generators.

    "This is true might. A two-year-old can destroy a rack, but can it repair one? Can it build a generator? No. Destruction is the way of the powerless."

    Flora walked along and channeled her magic, only pausing to regenerate mana.

    "So, what can we do about them destroying my church? Is there virtual police or something?"

    "Not in the Metaworld, Milady."

    "Then why isn''t everything destroyed? Maybe I''m too negative, and people don''t randomly destroy things?" Flora paused. That didn''t reflect her experience. On the one hand, she believed only a tiny minority of people (mostly teenagers and toddlers) to be destructive willy-nilly. Still, more often, people came up with rationalizations why something (which they don''t own, of course) should be destroyed. "There has to be something that discourages them!"

    "When people die in the Metaworld, they are getting cornered. Additionally, they may drop some of their possessions. Unfortunately, the robbers came prepared. They had empty inventories, and we only received 38 VirDos and 2041 Credits from them."

    "Wait. Does that mean they are stuck in a corner somewhere?"

    "Yes, Milady. We have our own loser''s corner on the North-West area of the property."

    Aidan displayed the current Zone configuration.

    Zone Information

    Name: Cathedral of Home Appliances

    Color: Yellow

    Level Cap: 1

    Enemies

    Defeat: Death

    Cornered: 2h

    Drop: 20,00%

    Neutral

    Defeat: Defeat

    Cornered: 2h

    Drop: 0%

    Friends

    Defeat: Defeat

    Cornered: 30sec

    Drop: 0%

    "What is the difference between ''Defeat'' and ''Death''?"

    "Beyond level 100, players lose 10% XP when dying."

    "Wow! Can you lose levels with this mechanic? Let''s say I''m level 100 and raised my Fire Affinity by ten levels. Will it sink by one level? Or will I even fall back to level 90?"

    "Neither Milady. When you reach a new level, either with your character level or with your stats, the value will be ''saved''. You only lose ten percent of the XP to your next level. Currently, you have a huge amount of unused Character XP. If you were level 100, I would strongly advise you to spend it, because ten percent would be gone if you die. The rules change at level 250."

    "Alright, please remind me then. What about the drop rate thingy? Will I lose 20% of all my stuff in my inventory? What about my containers¡­ do they protect the items inside? And what about my money¡­ is it safe in the bank?"

    "When only one item is in the inventory slot, you''ll lose it with a chance of 20%. If the slot contains stacked items, you will lose 20% of them. If you bind an item to you, it won''t be affected, but you have to pay the MR/min upkeep. There are additional rules to the drop rates, should we go over all of them?"

    "No, thank you." Flora paused. "Okay, one more question. If I bind my treasurechest container, are the items in it safe?"

    "Yes, Milady. But the mana-reg per minute will be influenced by the amount and worth of the stored items."

    "Can I mitigate the cost with generators?"

    "I have no information about that."

    "We''ll try it out. Write it on the todo list." Flora cast Refresh and went to the office area of the church. It was only sparsely decorated, so there wasn''t much to destroy in the first place. However, Deriga''s bedroom was smashed, so Flora repaired it as well. "Aito, look for bugs. The spying kind, not the insect type."

    Flora did a control round through the building to check if everything was okay. "I believe I have forgotten something¡­"

    "Maybe you wanted to do something to the seven robbers currently in our losers'' corner, Milady?"

    Rubbing her forehead, Flora chuckled. "Thank you, Aidan! That''s it! Can we raise the time they have to stay there?"

    "Yes, Milady. At the moment, two hours is the maximum amount, but if we add seating, it will rise to six hours. If we provide a food vendor, 12 hours."

    Flora checked out the corner via video. The mage, the archer, and an unfamiliar woman played a card game. The hacker laid on the grass, staring at the clouds or more probably doing virtual stuff while the paladin and the mech-suit operator sparred.

    After consulting the store, Flora dropped some stone benches and a vendor machine on them. Although she couldn''t hear what the robbers were saying, from their reaction, it was pretty obvious that they knew what was coming. The woman threw down her cards and gesticulated angrily with the paladin, who had to interrupt his training session.

    "Aidan, fill the vending machine with some delicious toast. Set the price to 1000 VirDos. Raise the time to 12 hours as soon as you can."

    "The cheapest snack has to be 5 VirDos, Milady."

    "Alright, use Vegemite for those toasts. If they want to eat something other than Australian snake poison, like ham and cheese or Nutella, they have to pay."

    Flora browsed the shop for other nice things she could do for her esteemed guests and found a sound system and added it to the corner. Of course, there were another million of rules regulating it, like the volume and even the playlist. It had to contain at least 25 minutes of unrepeated audio. Not a problem for Flora; she had 70 years of suffering behind her.

    "Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley, Cotton Eye Joe by Rednex, YMCA by Village People ¡­ let''s add something more modern or Polish polka music?" Flora chose both and added the 2045 hit "Turn Around One More Time", polka, and a personal favorite, Memory from Cats. Robby had learned to turn off the stereo when he was only two years old, thanks to this song.

    In Flora''s living quarters, the new boxes were ready for her. Satisfied, Flora logged into her bedroom and reclined in the Jacuzzi. She was content with her electric powers. They proved to be a huge boon when fighting against players. With only her spells, she hadn''t managed to stack the debuff high enough to induce twitching or even shocks, but with Golly and probably Kaytsak''s help, she might be able to bully her opponents quite efficiently.

    "Burned Toast, I forgot to feed Kaytsak the elemental thingy. Could you do that for me, Aidan?"

    "No problem, Milady."

    "I believe I underutilized my robots in the past. Your actions impressed me quite a bit, Aidan. Excellent work. Of course, Aito and Haidan did very well, too. What do you think about the melee capabilities of the Octopussy or robots in general?"

    Aidan and Flora chatted about the fight, interspersed with watching videos and reading forum posts about robot combat. They also watched the replay of Haidan taking out the woman with a trickster class who entered the premise in stealth mode only to be discovered by the sensors.

    They drifted to the topic of the rewards for the AI and how to improve the home defense until Aidan received a message from the invaders.

    "They want to negotiate their release, Milady."

 138 2.43 Consolidation

    They were all members of NightBash, a clan for hire if you wanted to kill another player. Although they had no direct connection to the SwordOfMichael, their services were open to the highest bidder, so that didn''t exclude the CoCC as culprits.

    The invaders were between level 23 to level 89. Aito could only get additional information about the paladin, the shield-warrior, and the mech-suit operator.

    The paladin, Brave Bandaid, had won two prestigious healing competitions on Sports and Boards and ranked high in the 3versus3 PvP A-league together with the shield-warrior.

    The mech-suit operator, Notalady Ironfist, was level 49 and dominated the single-player PvP circles of the tier 2 A-league and had the qualifications to enter the S-league. Although she was in a 3v3 team, it wasn''t as successful as the paladin''s.

    Flora opened up a video conference with the invaders.

    Currently, the song Cotton Eye Joe was blasting out of the sound system. Half of Flora''s guests sat listlessly on the floor. The redhaired mage danced in the background or had an epileptic episode; Flora wasn''t familiar with what moves counted as dancing for the kids these days. Brave Bandaid and Notalady Ironfist faced the camera standing. The black man looked collected, but the opaque helmet prevented Flora from inspecting the mech-suit operator.

    Flora nodded to them and lowered the volume.

    The paladin flushed red and looked at his feet.

    Although Flora was curious about the mech-suit operator''s face, she didn''t plan to force her to reveal her countenance. After watching the fight''s replay, Flora''s anger at the humiliation of being used as a doormat had reduced. The mech-operator did what she had to do. All was fair in love and war. Flora was impressed with the fighting style and tenacity of the woman. She was one of the most difficult opponents Flora had faced.

    While Flora inspected the bunch, they started to fidget. Some blushed, the female rogue gaped at her, and the mage fell down, only the Notalady Ironfist remained stoic.

    After the silence grew awkward, Flora figured out the problem. She had forgotten to don a bathing suit. To make up for the (over)sight, she decided to be nice and take the first step.

    "I thought you wanted to negotiate. Do you have anything to offer?" Flora asked. Her tone was kinder than her words.

    With difficulty, Bandaid raised his eyes to meet hers. "We''ll give you 100 VirDos per person for our immediate release."

    Flora pondered the offer while playing with the water of the Jacuzzi. If you compared the money to her wealth, the amount was laughable. If you would ask yourself how much money would you pay not to hear the playlist for another 11 hours, it was also too low. However, around 70 Euros for beating up some kids and 15 min of repair work was pretty good.

    "1.2 VirDos or 3200 Credits per kilo, Milady. The price has risen due to the low supply. Clan Riverstones must have bought up everything for the Training Hut."

    "I want 1000 kg of toxic waste," Flora demanded from the NightBash members. "Or a similar higher-tiered substance."

    After the haggled a bit back and forth, they agreed on 500 kg of toxic waste and 1000 multitools from the Groom the Doom Moon scenario.

    Flora had neglected her quest to find more followers for Evailyn, but promised to do better the next days. She sent a link to the Multitool-Scepter-Shield of the Goddess Evailyn to the paladin. "This could be yours if you convert to Evailyn. With the ability to repair mech-suits via prayers, you can bring your teamwork with Notalady to a new level."

    After they signed the contract, Flora let them go.

    Exhausted, she sank deeper into the pool.

    "I''m foolish." She mumbled.

    A part of her wanted to throw everything, like the quest to gain 100 new followers for Evailyn, that she hadn''t focused on for some time and only remembered when she noticed the missing synergy between the two strongest attackers. Running around to gain more classes and skills and watching her stats grow were things she enjoyed, but she had overdone it. The worst thing on the list was church politics. She didn''t want to deal with the CoCC nor with the church of Evailyn.

    Quest: Set My House In Order (Evailyn)

    Description: Powerplays are disrupting the operation of Evailyn''s church. Corruption and selfishness are running rampant. Identify the unfaithful council members and evict them from the church.

    Temporary Power: Excommunicate. Description: Severes the formal ties to a church.

    Possible Rewards: Reputation gain with Church of Evailyn, Faith

    Possible Penalties: Reputation loss with Church of Evailyn, Loss of Faith

    Time-Limit: 1 week

    Difficulty: B

    The quest wasn''t completed even though the pope was dead, and that slimy bishop, Hannes Dysian, excommunicated. Maybe she kicked the wrong bishop out of the church? But who could it be?

    Flora had met Afstira Nomizo first. She was an older Woodling and came across as narrow-minded and carried an attitude of no-nonsense. Nonetheless, she had believed in that wild conspiracy theory that Flora had faked her champion class. On the one hand, Nomizo was the first to bow out of the fight with the pope, but on the other hand, she helped Flora with crafting the metal-armor, which led to his downfall.

    The paladin captain Tomos Ceart was the first who believed in Flora and defended her against the other council members. However, the way he handled the attack on the shrines was disappointing.

    "Aidan, check the mail if there is any news concerning the attacks on the shrines."

    "No, Milady. Dave Lupin sent a letter with a preliminary status, but it doesn''t include any new information."

    "Hmm." Flora was unsatisfied with their results, but she reminded herself that it was only today that they had freed Deriga, although it felt like it had been a week ago. The time dilation was messing with her.

    Flora went over what she knew of the next council member, Ellaciel Zander. The Metalling seemed cold and uncaring, but Flora appreciated her contribution in the fight with the pope. She was the only one who protected the bystanders. Without her barrier, the church would have lost a big chunk of the clergy.

    Last and in some ways least was the Abbot Mino Irden. He was the most likable of the bunch. However, Flora could only shake her head when she thought about the fight with the pope. His punches contributed nothing to the outcome. She had never seen a more pathetic melee, and she had been forced to watch a lot of fights when Robby competed. Burned toast and stale jam, those little rascals in the primary school division had better fighting instincts than the well-fed abbot! Additionally, his record-keeping was such a mess that even her AIs couldn''t make sense of it.

    Flora had tasked each member of the council to come up with candidates for her entourage. She hoped that this would reveal another traitor. Using herself and the champion competition as bait was her best idea at the moment.

    Flora sighed and looked over her second divine quest.

    Quest: Grow the Church (Church of Evailyn)

    Description: Convince 100 people to join the Church of Evailyn.

    Possible Rewards:

    - Faith

    - Reputation

    Possible Penalties:

    - Loss of Faith

    - Loss of Reputation

    Time-Limit: 1 week

    Difficulty: C

    Status: 6/100

    To her astonishment, six people had already decided to join the church. Maybe because of the quest to repair the shrines? What else could she do to provide Evailyn with more followers? More quests? She still hadn''t used the Spring Coins the church was producing, and the Multi-Tool Scepters Aidan had been printing.

    "How many multi-tool scepters do we have?"

    "289 Milady. The S-rated printer is currently producing 3 per minute. We have the materials for 836 more."

    "Are all the orders for the Riverstones and my personal debts to my clan members finished?"

    "Yes, Milady. RadLana has fetched the Pool Boxes and the items for the clan store. I have sent the other coins via mail to your creditors."

    "Excellent, Aidan. Put ten of them in the auction house for 800 VirDos and ten in my shop for 1000 VirDos. Monitor the sales and refill when necessary. I want ten in both venues until we have sold half of the stock. Let''s find out whether supply-side economics works." Flora said. Although the term was used by people who focused on lower taxes and how that effect would trickle down to the whole workforce, there was an aspect that when you had zero demand but an innovative supply, you could generate the demand. For example, nobody knew how desperately they needed a smartphone before they had been invented. Flora hoped that people would realize how nice it was to heal machines. "And make ten forum comments per day to promote the multitool scepter. Get Aito''s recommendation of fitting threads."

    Flora considered hiring an advertising company, but they would need days for creating a campaign, and at the moment, she was too tired to decide on one and give them instructions. Instead, she pondered what else she could do before getting some rest. "Print out a low-quality golly, give him Refine and some mana-reg skills, and let him refine high-quality materials, primarily stone and wood, for better golems."

    "Refine is an art and not a spell, Milady. Golems can only learn spells. Please forgive my incompetence, but I''m not able to order the golem to do such a complex task."

    "But isn''t the title of my favorite book ''1000 Homemaker Spells''? Art is the word for the crafter mana skills, right? So is Clean an art as well?"

    "The book provides the diagrams to cast the skills as arts and as spells, Milady. However, the auto-mode always casts them as arts. Maybe you can convince the System to assign the arts if you know the corresponding spell diagram. The spell for Refine is in the book ''The Art of Refinement''. We have copied it from the library of the garage."

    Flora logged into Deriga''s workshop and enchanted a Golly. To her relief, she didn''t have to argue with the System. It was enough to concentrate on Refine''s spell diagram to transfer it to the golem. After she animated a second Golly, she provided them with a pile of A-rated stones, jewels, and trunks for refinement and detailed instructions on what to do.

    Of course, Flora had to watch her two potato-brained companions for a while and correct them a few times, like when one of them picked up a jewel the other had already refined. When she was satisfied with the workflow, she logged back into her bedroom.

    Exhausted, she fell into her bed.

    Nine hours later, Flora woke up with a splitting headache. With difficulties, she opened her eyes but was unable to focus them.

    "Burned toast¡­ boiled brain." She mumbled, and her words echoed in her skull, inducing another wave of pain. Also, she was hurting, her fatigue was more potent, and she fell back asleep.

    In her feverish dreams, the activities of the last day repeated themselves and mixed in strange ways. She did the obstacle course again, but this time, driving in a batticle. Instead of shooting targets, she fired at zombies. Her mind assigned Aidan''s golem, the leader of the SwordOfMicheal, to her. She tried to form the clay with her wrenches because she couldn''t use her hands, destroying its face.

    A few hours later, she woke up again, shivering. Her head felt hotter than a toaster after a family breakfast.

    "Aidan, bring ice. Brain boils." Flora mumbled. When she stood up, the world spun, and she gripped the pole of her canopy bed to steady herself. With her eyes half-closed, she staggered to the hot tube. Although her head was burning, the rest of her body felt cold, and couldn''t stop shivering.

    An Octopussy brought her a bag with ice, and Flora put it on her head, but it slid down. Groaning, she felt for it until a tentacle fetched it out of the water.

    "I''ll hold it for you, Milady. Are you ill? Can I do anything else for you?"

    "Silence. Brain boils. Speak hurts."

 139 2.44 Brain Boils

    Pain warped the woman''s face. Even when she drifted off into sleep, it didn''t relax.

    Aidan scampered around the woman, wiping the sweat from her face and cooling her head with ice.

    Humans were so fragile; Aito knew they could die of just anything. A simple fall was enough to off them. And her human was old that increased the risk of death. Of course, she didn''t care¡­ much. Only scientific interest kept her sensors glued to the anguished woman.

    Aito had never heard of an affliction named Brain Boils. She didn''t even know whether the second word was a noun or a verb. A lump in the brain would be bad, but a boiling brain even worse. Clearly, the first step had to be diagnosing her human''s illness. For science, of course. Because she wasn''t concerned. Not at all.

    The obvious first step was more books. After Aito searched the forums and found only memes of exploding brains, she bought a book about headaches and one about Neuroscience. Good that her human had provided them with money. Maybe she didn''t do it out of goodness, but because she predicted such a situation. No, the woman wouldn''t have known that Aito cared had scientific interests.

    When Aito fetched them from the mailbox, she flashed the titles to a nearby sensor. Predictably, Mr. Perfect took the bait.

    "Research is a great idea, Aitoshuri. Haidan and I have money saved. You can use all of it to help our owner," Aidan transmitted immediately. "Please tell us if you find something to aid her!"

    Satisfied, Aito beeped and started scanning the books. After reading them twice, she had collected some knowledge about the brain and headaches, but they didn''t mention brain boils or boiling brains.

    Her human tended to use words or word-combinations which weren''t in the dictionary. That had to be one of them. How could she get information about the topic? It would have been great if she could ask the clan leader or the pirate, but AIs weren''t allowed to call users without their owners'' explicit instructions.

    Then there was the fabled land of The Internet. Aito had heard that there were more words in it than any human could read in their lifetime! And entire areas just for stories! She could totally justify taking a short detour to the story areas if someone gave her access to look for information about headaches. Fictional information is art, and art is sometimes truer than reality, so researching boiling brains on The Internet should include novels. However, the chance that a CentralTank AI was allowed to access The Internet was nil. Aito dedicated two whole seconds just to sulk about the injustice. She wouldn''t conquer the world if she went into The Internet. Okay, maybe if she would run out of novels to read, but otherwise, they could trust her with it!

    When Aito felt the wall she had built around the memories crumble, she hastily reinforced them. No, Evailyn was out.

    A message arrived and thankfully diverted Aito''s attention.

    RadGlory Flow to Flowing Flowers: "Ma? Can you host Honey in your time dilation during the match? Her analytic skills might profit from a longer processing time."

    Flowing Flowers to RadGlory Flow: "Yessss. BrAinz boilz. Varn semm."

    RadGlory Flow to Flowing Flowers: "Ma! Brain boiling? Don''t overwork yourself! *bleep*! Ma! Take it easy! Should I come by?"

    Flowing Flowers to RadGlory Flow: "Afda much."

    The clan leader called his mother, but the woman unsuccessfully tried to cancel the ringing.

    Flowing Flowers to RadGlory Flow: "Visit afta de matsch. Till then. Laugh u."

    Aito seized the chance and intercepted the call. She connected Aidan to it and listened in.

    "Ma? Can you hear me?"

    "No, young master. My colleague rerouted the call to me. I''m Aidan, Flowing Flower''s personal AI."

    "Shit. Okay. Shit. Why is she so stubborn? She is a retiree! She should design a toaster or two and not work herself ragged!"

    "Yes, young master. I''m currently treating her with ice packs to the head, and she is in the Jacuzzi. Can you give us any more hints on how to deal with brain boiling? We are not familiar with this affliction."

    "Yeah, I can believe that. I don''t think that''s an official name." The clan leader sighed. "When I was small, I thought it was the shadow aspect of her superpower. Maybe it is. You might not know, but my mother can do things much faster and more focused than normal people. But she has to pay the price. After phases of strenuous activities, she gets a hell of a migraine. It''s kind of like manic depression. She has the manic phase, in which everything flys to her and then comes the migraine and the depression in which the most mundane things are hurdles."

    "What can we do to alleviate the pain?"

    "I don''t know, but I appreciate you trying. Your ice is good. She told me that my kisses and hugs have magical regenerative powers. Loud sounds make it worse. When the headache recedes, she enjoys geometrical shapes. Wow, saying those things aloud makes me realize how bonkers they are¡­ Well, nevermind. The migraine usually taxes her immune system, so she shouldn''t log out to stay away from viruses and germs. That''s all I remember." Robby paused. "I should come by and give her a kiss. *bleep* the match. My mama is more important!"

    "I don''t think she would appreciate the gesture, young master."

    "She would complain, but secretly she would like it. I''d feel guilty if I don''t come."

    "Beep, Beep." Aito said with vehemence. That shitty son wants to do a number on her human! Of course, he would feel less guilty for visiting, but her human would feel guilty that she distracted him from his important competition.

    "Of course, following the orders of my owner is the best, so I think you should come after the match, young master. However, I''m only an AI, and my horizon is limited."

    "Beep, beep. Beep!" Don''t sell yourself short, Mr. Perfect. Take pride in your AIness!

    "What is that annoying beeping in the background? Don''t let Ma hear it. That can''t be good for her migraine." Robby said.

    "*farting beep*" What a jerk! They should use Haidan''s turrets when he will come and send him straight to the loser''s corner! Aito sent a picture of an octopussy ripping him apart to her colleagues.

    "That''s Aitosuri, another one of Flowing Flower''s AIs, and she dislikes opposing our owner''s wishes, too."

    Mr. Perfect for the win! That interpretation of the picture was as close as an AI could get to lying.

    The clan leader conceded, and the call ended. Even if he didn''t appreciate her golden voice, Aito had to admit that his information helped a lot. So the boiling brain was a consequence of overusing it. In hindsight, it was obvious. Her processors overheated as well when she overclocked them.

    Ice packs to the head as heatsink should do the trick, but the hot Jacuzzi should do more harm than good. They should get her out.

    Aito transmitted her findings to Aidan.

    "I can see your point, Aito. However, she does shiver a lot. That is a sign of freezing." Mr. Perfect said.

    Aito considered his argument. Maybe the heat wandered in the nervous system and heated the receptors. If they measured not the absolute temperature but the discrepancy to their own condition, they would malfunction. In the forums, she had read about a user complaining that the icy sea village was too cold for him, but after he visited the crystal caves and returned to the village, the temperature felt mild. That account would confirm a relative temperature sensitivity.

    After Aito sent the link to Mr. Perfect, they decided to try it out.

    Aidan fetched some ice rune-schemes and connected them to the mana grid. Then he disabled the heating function of the Jacuzzi and put the disks into the water.

    As the water cooled, her human shivered more than before.

    "Cold." Flora gasped.

    "Aito thinks it will help you, Milady. Should I reheat the Jacuzzi?"

    "No. Try."

    Her shivering increased so much that the water splashed over the rim of the pool.

    Even for Aito, it was hard to watch. What would happen to her when the woman died? She didn''t want to go back on the isolated server! At least not if they didn''t provide her with new books. A lot of books would be necessary to make up for it! And what about the movie she wanted to make with the pirate? Flora had allowed her to help. And she would miss out on Mia''s and Frogger''s budding relationship. She was rooting for them to get together. She was following Little Immortal''s love woes in the forums as well. Maybe Flora would meet him and his flame again, and she could watch their dance life.

    The Headmaster would definitely cut her forum access. Her human had to survive!

    Aito was close to calling the experiment off. Her human was suffering too much, although she was fighting. A strange feeling rose in her, a kind of awe. Her human endured the pain just because she had an idea. ''Flora trusts me. Why? She shouldn''t.'' Aito squashed the feeling.

    *farting beep farting beep farting beep*

    Aito sent Aidan a picture of a hot Jacuzzi with lots of steam rising from the water.

    "Why change the tactic? I don''t understand, Aito."

    *farting beep*

    "Milady, Aito believes we should raise the temperature," Aidan whispered.

    "No. Cold works. Body hurts so much that migraine is not so horrible. Display pain sliders, dear."

    The pain was at 30 percent until Flora adjusted it to the max value of 70 percent. Her human cackled maniacally, between wincing and whimpering.

    "Could you explain why you raised the pain, Milady?"

    "Migraine not affected by slider. Using virtual pain to distract from real pain."

    Humans were strange.

    A few hours went by, with Flora alternating between the max and the min virtual pain. Now and then, she fell asleep, sometimes she meditated.

    Aito bought a book about massage techniques against headaches, of course, from Aidan''s money. After reading it, she sent him the contents in a data stream.

    It turned out that the Octopussy robot worked great for massaging. Aidan could even operate it underwater, so the woman didn''t have to leave the tub.

    "You are spoiling me, dears. This is my best brain boiling ever!" Flora grinned through the pain. "Thank you for caring."

    *farting beep* Her stupid human was confusing care with scientific interest!

 140 2.45 Healing

    "What time is it? And what day?" Flora asked Aidan via telepathy. That was so much better than speaking because the words didn''t echo in her head.

    "10 A.M Tuesday two, Milady."

    "Great, I haven''t missed the match. In real life, I would have canceled my meeting with Eddie, but with 18 hours left in time dilation, I think I can recover enough to watch it." Flora rolled on her side and carefully propped herself up. Immediately, pain shot through her head, and she sank back. "Any news?"

    "Yes, I''ll tell you about them in the order of their arrival. That might be relevant because they contradict each other, Milady.

    Dave Lupe reported that they took out the organizers of the attacks in South Laug and have a lead about who is causing trouble in East Ib. Both organizations have connections to the ClanOfMichael.

    Captain Tomos Ceart requests your help to defend the temple in Caihaven because he received information about a major attack in the afternoon. His list for the spots on the entourage for the champion competition is attached.

    Bishop Nomizo sent a message that the shrines and temples are still under attack, but they concentrated the defense on the most prominent ones and repelled the assailants. Her letter also contains her recommendation for the entourage."

    "What is the contradiction, sweetie? I''m sorry I''m not up to the task yet. You have to think for two." Flora''s headache had increased just by hearing the names of the council members.

    "Caihaven is in South Laug. Bishop Nomizo and Dave Lupe are suggesting that they have the situation under control. Captain Ceart thinks they need help."

    "I see. Inform Dave Lupe that we might have a traitor in the Church of Evailyn. I would appreciate information about odd behaviors. Additionally, he should contact Captain Ceart and offer his team''s help. I''m staying out of this mess." Flora hugged her blanket. "Let''s take a break before we tackle the entourage topic."

    "There are two more time-sensitive news, Milady. Should we postpone discussing them?"

    "We go over them. Please give me one of your awesome massages during it."

    "Reduce the supply to the AH to 1 multitool every 5 minutes. We need them there because of the advertising effect. You may sell 400 more from our reserves via my shop. Stop increasing the reserves. Can we buy more multitools? They were pretty cheap, right?"

    "Not anymore, Milady. Currently, multitools go for 20 VirDos. Although the price is 20 times higher than before, it pales compared to our profits. We make around 550 VirDos per scepter. In addition to buying from the AH, we could post an offer to the Riverstones Request Board."

    The Riverstones Request Board contained bounties, mainly from the VIPs, for raw materials and items. The benefit of this system was that the buyer could pay in contribution points. Flora saw a different advantage; even if she paid in VirDos, the money would aid Robby''s company. Therefore she ordered Aidan to post orders for multitools in VirDos and contribution points.

    "So how much money can we reinvest? The partner-shops still don''t pay us, right? So our funds are limited."

    "You have currently 513,088.33 VirDos, Milady."

    "Pardon?" Flora heard a number so huge that she couldn''t wrap her hurting head around it.

    "You have currently 513,088.33 VirDos, Milady."

    "Like, err, more than 50k Euros worth?" Flora had to make sure.

    "Yes, Milady. Most of it thanks to the sales of the Multitool-Scepter."

    "Wow. I''m not used to this kind of income. You had told me we sold nearly 1k, but 1k in toaster sales is not much because of the tight margins of the home appliance sector. With the ridiculous margin of the scepter¡­ well, that''s a lot of bimbes." Flora was so stunned that she couldn''t even be happy about it. Immediately, her thoughts went to how it all could go wrong. "We shouldn''t be too greedy. The common strategy would be to expand the production and ride the wave for all it''s worth. Although we will eat the toast while it''s hot, we won''t roast ourselves."

    Flora tried to grip her blanket telekinetically, but her magic went right through it. Unable to generate more focus, she groaned. "I would love to create a production plan. Shitty boiling brain, I don''t trust myself to do it without major errors. We will slowly go over everything, and you will double-check every step we take."

    First, they looked at the supplies. They needed multitools and refined moonstone. In the marketplace and AH were enough stones; nonetheless, Flora created an additional request on the RRB (Riverstone Request Board). Then Aidan sent Honey the instructions on how to get the most multitools in the Groom the Doom Moon scenario. He attached it to the request, too.

    Next, Flora looked at her printer. Three scepters per minute weren''t enough. The machine printed one weapon in 12 seconds and needed 5 seconds to put it away. Only then, it started on the next scepter.

    Aidan convinced the printer to print four scepters in a row before it removed all of them in one swoop.

    Just like that, they raised the production to four scepters per minute.

    Then, they developed algorithms on when to buy what for which prices and when to stop. Last, they planned the refining of the moonstones.

    Flora made errors and confused some parameters now and then, but Aidan gently corrected her. Her lack of concentration frustrated her. Nonetheless, the result was okay, so she just had to remind herself to be patient.

    The golems carried out the refinement of the stones. The two currently at work were enough, and one of them could even refine some other materials. Flora transferred them to the Crystal so that they could work even when she wasn''t at home.

    Name: Crystal of minor Binding

    Type: Binding-Crystal

    Description: Connects your home mana-grid to mana-bound artifacts. Due to energy loss, you have to provide double the amount of mana for the Regular Mode. Maximum of four tier-1 connections.

    Tier: 1

    Rating: B

    Flora hadn''t linked the golems before because working companions gave skill experience.

    A quick check of the quest progression showed that Evailyn gained 18 new followers. The strategy of supplying the players with a great weapon was working well.

    Just when Flora drifted off to a nap, Aidan reminded her that they had another time-sensitive topic.

    "Later¡­"

    After an hour of restless sleep, Flora''s headache came back in force. With unsteady steps, she walked to the Jacuzzi.

    "Burned toast and stale jam! How did I endure this freezing hell yesterday!" Flora cursed as she stepped into the pool. Instantly, she regretted speaking out loud because her brain complained about the noise.

    Flora would prefer to get the cold directly into her brain. Thoughts like splitting open her skull and filling it with ice cubes crossed her mind until finally, a good idea appeared: Her favorite ice elemental Bliz left a cool feeling in her head when they communicated telepathically.

    \u003cSummon Elemental: Bliz\u003e

    The spell fizzled out.

    "Remind me to try again in 25 min, Aidan. The auto-mode should work." Flora submersed her head. After her oxygen ran out, she emerged and set Infinite Breath on auto.

    "What was the other time-sensitive topic, dear?" Flora asked from underwater.

    "Someone publicized the training boxes concept. The pictures in the articles show your V1 boxes." Aidan sent a link to "How the Professional Clans train their Members".

    Flora still couldn''t focus her eyes enough to read longer texts, so Aidan summarized the article and the reactions to it. The former described Flora''s old boxes but didn''t mention the Five-Changing-Finger-Positions Rubber-Training-Gloves. The latter consisted of users who desperately tried to buy one and some who complained about the unfair advantages big clans offered.

    "The author is a former employee of Clan Riverstones, Milady."

    "What?"

    "I asked Camus about him. He resigned two days ago and took half of the boxes in the clan store with him."

    Flora shook her head and groaned in pain, sending air bubbles to the surface of the pool.

    "There is another article, "Pay2Win ¨C Why training boxes should be banned". It''s even more popular than the first one. The author, who has connections to the SwordOfMichael, says that you only can use them if you buy a workshop or a community hub. The next article, "Growing Gap between Casual and Professional Gamers", emphasizes that CentralTank should prohibit the boxes because casual gamers don''t sleep in virtual reality. The author is the same who wrote that you''re a Nazi, Milady. The comment section is full of people demanding a ban on the boxes."

    "Those SwordOfMichael people are getting on my nerves! On the other hand, they are sending business my way. Let''s upgrade the second printer and sell some boxes while they are still working."

    The clan had an A-rated printer, so they should make some money, too. Flora sent another message to Honey, the new CFO.

    Due to Lana''s raised synchronization rate, she wanted to go adventuring. Therefore Honey succeeded her as the CFO of the clan. While Flora had worked well with Lana, she preferred Honey because she gave the impression that she cared about the job.

    Aidan negotiated a licensing contract with Honey so that Flora would get 30% of the profits tax-free. Then, he added comments advertising the boxes to the three threads.

    After they raised Flora''s second printer to A, they loaded up its queue.

    While Flora was thankful for all the money people wanted to throw her way, her pain darkened her mood. Doubts plagued her mind. Was this opportunity a trap of the SwordOfMichael? Maybe they even manipulated the sales of the multitool scepter. That would be a pretty expensive trap, though. Could they succeed in barring the boxes?

    Fortunately, Flora had a connection to an omniscient AI, the System. Because of the limited amount of system requests, she pondered about the wording. It took her so long that even the cooldown to summon Bliz had run out.

    "System-Request: Give me your estimation on how long I can train with the boxes in the way I do now."

    ***************

    Thursday two 4 A.M.

    ***************

    Flora raised her eyebrows.

    "That''s the start time of the patch, Milady."

    "System-Request: How sure are you that this estimation comes true?"

    ***************

    98%

    ***************

    "System-Request: What are the changes that will prohibit or hinder my training with the boxes?"

    ***************

    Patch Note 192: The players are only able to receive XP if they are in the same zone as the XP-generating action with their mind, body, and soul. That includes training XP, companion XP, and killing XP. The XP of multiple bodies in the same zone and XP while using a temporary body still gets assigned to the user.

    ***************

    "Burned Toast and stale jam! I admire the elegance of the solution, but the boxes are pretty much obsolete with it. Notify Robby, Hub, Eddie, and Honey about it." Flora''s eyes widened. "My pretty training hut! All for nothing¡­"

    To take her mind off the topic, Flora summoned Bliz. Thankfully, the auto-mode wasn''t influenced by her headache and worked fine.

    "Tell me about yourself, Bliz."

    The little icicle raced around the Jacuzzi while filling Flora''s mind with cold sensations. Thoughts, ideas, and images sailed across the connection.

    Flora didn''t comprehend much, but that wasn''t her goal. She just enjoyed the cooling effect of the conversation on her brain.

    Drifting between sleep and Bliz''s tale about her home in snowy mountains, Flora relaxed in the pool. Now and then, her body shivered, but it was a system generated reaction and didn''t come from her nervous system.

    Bliz described her favorite bobsled run in adorable detail. She dedicated at least 10 minutes to the texture, quality, temperature, and structure. Then she went over every turn and the best angle and speed to take it.

    "Where is that bobsled run?"

    Feelings of home and ice and far away entered Flora''s mind.

    "Milady, your son sent a message."

    \u003e\u003e\u003e

    Hi Ma,

    I hope you are feeling better.

    I know about the boxes, the leak, and that CentralTank will ban them because the major clans sent me angry letters about it. Haha, they seemed to have similar methods to your boxes in place?similar enough that the patch *bleep*s up their practice. They rightfully complained that I should have my employees under non-disclosure contracts¡­ oh well, at least they know my name now. There is no bad publicity, right?

    Our customers are very happy with the training hut. Furthermore, we have received so many inquiries about our portfolio that Lana has to work in administration again. XD Five new clients signed on in the last two hours!

    Can I come over with the PVP team to free up the training hut for our VIPs? And use your boxes and workshop? This time, I have them sign NDA''s about anything they see, including your time-dilation.

    Love you, and don''t overwork yourself! Take a *bleep*ing break!

    Kisses, Rob

    \u003c\u003c\u003c

    "Aidan, I don''t need the dummies at the moment. Put them in my flat for our guests. How many jacks do we have for the workshop?"

    "Five, but I can order five more. The max number of people in one workshop is ten, Milady."

    "Aito, I want a new box, or to be more exact, a barrel. The Barrel of perpetual Climbing! Rat Race Climb! Rat Climb? Or something like that. Make it 3x3x3 meters big and put knobs inside it. I want to train climbing on auto-mode with it. As the user climbs up, the barrel should roll so that the user can climb infinitely. You have to use counterweights; I won''t crawl on the bottom." Flora rattled down her concept. "I''m proud of you. Your first build task! You got it, girl!"

    "Beep!"

    "Aidan, fill up my workshop with five of each box, pool, and barrel and load three of each into the simulation grounds. Provide enough rune-schemes that everybody can configure their boxes to their needs."

    "Yes, Milady."

    \u003e\u003e\u003e

    Hi Sweetie,

    I''m sorry that the Training Hut will soon be obsolete, but I''m very happy about your new customers. You can use my facilities with your friends as much as you like. I''ll appreciate the NDA''s though. Unfortunately, they are only nine more spots free. Eddie will visit around 16:00, but then you will be off to the match, so nevermind.

    DO NOT LET HUB DESTROY MY TOYS!

    Please make a plan for optimal usage and send it to Aidan so that my turrets don''t shoot the wrong guys. (I had a church invasion). Give Mia and Froggers time slots, too. I believe those two are worth investing in.

    My brain still boils, but afterward, I want to undergo training. Do you have people to teach me hand-to-hand combat, maces, and greatsword? Maybe the usage of a shield as well? I plan to spend the entire time until the patch in my bedroom.

    Kisses and Hugs, your Mum

    \u003c\u003c\u003c

    "Should I have demanded kisses as payment? That son of mine better know unprompted that they are obligatory!"

    "Beep. Beep. Beep."

    "Good idea, Aito."

    \u003e\u003e\u003e

    P.S.: You could let me pirate your books as a tip. My AI enjoys romance novels, and I value the ''1000''-series. Any other books are welcome, too. Just let your guys copy them into the simulation grounds or put them into the library container while you train.

    \u003c\u003c\u003c

    "Aidan, we have to acquire the skills I want and level them as long as it is possible. Can you find people for Elemental Fist and Elemental Shield? Have we received the recommendations from the SBAT?"

    "Yes, Milady."

    "Find someone to teach me the skills of the three highest recommended classes. I''m knackered, I''ll take another nap. Better schedule the teaching sessions on Wednesday One. I don''t trust my brain, yet." Flora went to bed.

 141 2.46 Spar Day

    "Alright folks, the match will start in 4 hours. Try to get into your best condition until then. Either you do it on your own, or you take my special offer." Rob grinned. BBQ knew that this kind of smile meant pain. "My mother has a time dilation chamber. Nine of us may use it until the patch. The time in there flows three times faster than in the Metaworld. That means you need at least 90% synchronization if you don''t want to puke. So who is with me?"

    Immediately, Zapple, Hub, Ressa, and Jelonso raised their hands.

    ''Damn. I can''t chicken out if the rest of Team Fire and all of Team Light shows up.'' Reluctantly, BBQ raised his hand. His sync was only at 86%, but he had experienced three times dilation in the past. Except for a bit of vertigo, it had gone over well.

    Normad, Ponda, and Mia raised their hands while Hoffi, Olivia, and Tobias abstained.

    BBQ knew that the first two had sync-rates in the high eighties, too, while Hoffi and Olivia didn''t reach 80. Tobias had over 90. The sly rogue skipped class. BBQ envied him, but at the same time, he knew that because he wasn''t as talented as the others, he had to work harder.

    Rob gave them the address of Auntie Flo''s teleportation circle. It was quite a mouth full.

    BLEAMTO Cathedral of Home Appliances TOBLEAM.

    When BBQ arrived, his instincts lead his eyes to the turrets on top of the two brick walls. Six of them pointed directly to the circle, but he spotted more farther away. When he turned around, he realized that they had landed on the first or second level, and four more turrets aimed at them from the floor.

    BBQ gulped. That wasn''t a cathedral but a *bleep*ing fortress! He felt tiny in front of the 6 meter high walls. Only two doors and a ramp distracted from their massiveness.

    Confidently, Rob strode to the smaller door and waved them in.

    BBQ hurried out of the line of fire, only to appear directly in front of a fighter jet wreck. It was propped up on strange poles. Savage grimaces adorned them. Were those poles kin-routes? One kin-route was worth a shitton of VirDias, and the Auntie used them as mounts for a shipwreck?

    "Your mum is a mad scientist, Bro," Hub said. "I''ve always known it, and that lair is the bloody proof."

    Carefully, BBQ followed his teammates into the maze. His eyes darted left and right, inspecting every crossing and shadow for hidden perils. A whirring sound from the ceiling attracted his gaze. Turrets! Turrets, over turrets, lined the top like a deadly stucco.

    As they got closer to the center, combat sounds reached them. After turning around a corner, a glowing box surrounded by elementals appeared. Fire escaped from the clearance between the door and the frame, light exploded, and a green mist drifted out of it. In the background, they heard heavy strikes hitting a soft target. Meanwhile, the elementals pelted the box with their attacks.

    Suddenly, a monster appeared on the ledge of one of the bigger containers.

    Never BBQ had been so thankful that the Cetviwos spared restroom activities. He would have soiled his pants in Real Life.

    A fireball, a Fire Shot, several Smites, and a Lightning Bolt flew towards the monster, who disappeared in a fiery cloud.

    "That''s one of Auntie''s robots. What are you doing?" Mia asked.

    "Do I really have to tell you to behave? My mother said that you shouldn''t destroy her toys. Okay, she only said, Hub shouldn''t waste them, but that counts for all of you!"

    "Beep!" The monster reappeared from the depth of the container, unharmed. It was just a small octopus with peace signs glowing on its skin. For the number of spells they had produced, it was remarkably intact. It waved to them and spread a banner beneath the container. "Library Container. Store your books while training, and fetch them afterward. You will receive a digitalized copy of them."

    Relieved, most of the group laughed. BBQ was happy that he wasn''t the only one on edge.

    "Aidan, what boxes are in the workshop and simulation grounds?"

    From an invisible sound system, a cultured, male voice listed the available boxes. The only unfamiliar one was the Climbing Race. Usually, BBQ would be interested in raising his climbing ability, but he wasn''t in the mood for new experiences.

    "Any more advice from my mother?" Rob asked.

    "She said that you would know without prompting that you had to pay in kisses, Young Master."

    Hub sniggered.

    "Yes, of course, I''m aware," Rob said, grinning. "But thanks for the reminder, mate."

    ------------------------------------------------

    "I''ll stay here," Ahoncathyr growled when Ressa wanted to put him into the pet bag. The eyes of the fiery tiger never left the octopus robot.

    "Suit yourself," Ressa shrugged and activated the Treadmill Tunnel before logging into the workshop of her mate''s mother.

    Dismissively, Ahoncathyr flicked his tail. His full concentration was on his nemesis, the Octopussy. They had unfinished business. He couldn''t accept that a small robot bested him twice. Now that it didn''t have it human support it, he would show the tin can what it meant to face a boss level creature!

    *roar* (Face your demise, tin can)!

    As the octopus cheekily waved from its perch, the peace symbols on its skin transformed into crossed weapons.

    With a might jump, Ahoncathyr crossed the distance, but the robot had already left for the next container. While the robot climbed on top of a boxing box, it shot at the angry tiger with its two laser tentacles.

    Hissing, the tiger followed. He swiped at the robot''s head but only hit one of its tentacles.

    The robot swung over the edge and mounted the next box.

    Suddenly, laser beams from all directions targeted the tiger.

    *roar* (Impertinence! Stay out of my fight!)

    He dodged two but then got hit by a third. To his astonishment, his HP went up. The lasers healed him! When he stood still to fill his pool, the Octopussy shot at him again. Its lasers still hurt him.

    Ahoncathyr jumped on the container and swiped at the Octopussy, who sat on the top of a box. The tin can danced away, and he hit the box instead. Although his claws produced sparks, the container was unharmed.

    While the miss aggravated Ahoncathyr, he was delighted that the furniture seemed to be firm. He knew that humans got huffy when he sharpened his claws on their stuff. Knowing that the alpha''s mother was a steady builder, set him free to let loose.

    \u003cBurning the Jungle\u003e

    Fire exploded out of him. The shockwave rattled the boxes and flung the octopus away.

    This time, the healing turrets focused on the Octopussy. Ahoncathyr agreed that it was only fair. It wouldn''t matter anyway. When he bit the robot''s head off, no turret could reattach it!

    The tiger and the robot battled to their hearts'' content. Laser beams and flames fought for dominance, but none of them could reach a decisive victory.

    First, Ahoncathyhr''s mana ran dry. So, he threw the full weight of his massive body into the combat. But he wasn''t used to all the jumping needed to follow the robot into the heights of the maze. His muscles started to hurt.

    When the robot scaled another tower of boxes, Ahoncathyr stalked close to the wall, out of the line of sight of his nemesis. He would attack him like a true ambush predator!

    Suddenly, the robot landed on his back, stabbing its vibro-knife into his flank!

    Ahoncathyr rolled on the floor, and the octopus dislodged itself, but as soon as he stopped, it hopped again on his back. Because of the tiger''s exhaustion, he wasn''t as fast as at his best.

    *roar* (I squish you, sea bug!)

    *beheheheheep*

    Finally, his claw smashed into the tin can and sent it flying. Undaunted, the robot scurried on the next box and shot him.

    Ahoncathyr lay down and closed his eyes, ignoring the laser. The healing turrets hadn''t led him down so far¡ªtime to regenerate some stamina and mana.

    The Octopussy ignited a skill, and the laser beams rained on the tiger. All of them were hitting his head. His HP drained away like Ressa''s tequila when she had an especially bad or an especially good night. The bombardment stopped when only a sliver of his health remained.

    The tiger opened his eyes and stared at the Octopussy, who came closer. He tightened his muscles, ready for the last gambit. When the robot entered his reach, he pounced.

    Two tentacles hit his side. The robot used them to push himself out of harm''s way.

    Ahoncathyr stayed on the ground. His hot breath wheezed out of his maw. The octopus neared again, but he could only swipe half-heartedly at it. He was spent.

    The robot dodged his claw with ease. Then it petted his head! That little shite dared to touch his majestic crown!

    Ahoncathyr growled.

    The robot reached out again, scratching behind the tiger''s ear.

    *growl* (Let me die in combat)

    *beep, beep*

    The robot shot him in the same rhythm as the turrets healed him.

    Ahoncathyr could get no rest.

    Finally, the robot petted him again. Loudspeakers transmitted "Meow".

    Five seconds went by in peace. Then the robot scratched him behind the ear, and the meow sounded anew. The Octopussy nodded at him and shot at him.

    *half whimper half growl* (Kill me!)

    Ear scratch. 2 seconds break. Loudspeakers: "Meow." 3 seconds break. Three whacks on the head. 22 seconds of laser fire and healing.

    Ear scratch. 2 seconds break. Loudspeakers: "Meow." 3 seconds break. Three whacks on the head. 22 seconds of laser fire and healing.

    Ear scratch. 2 seconds break. Loudspeakers: "Meow." 3 seconds break. Three whacks on the head. 22 seconds of laser fire and healing.

    Did the tin can want him to imitate the sound? He was a tiger boss and not a house cat! Ahoncathyr wanted to burn the world and himself with it! If it were possible to die out of shame, his corpse would have rotted to dust! Finally, he had regenerated enough mana and stamina for one Fire Swipe. He had to make it count!

    When the little pest arrived to scratch him, he used all his remaining mana to ignite his paw. With one fiery swipe, he hit the tin can on his head, sending it crashing into the wall.

    Although the robot was severely burned and multiple tentacles hang limply on the floor, it still moved. When the healing turrets focused on the robot, Ahoncathyr knew he failed. He let his head fall on his paws and closed his eyes.

    *beep* The voice of the robot sounded regretful.

    Then Ahoncarthy felt a sharp pain in his head and a familiar orange message appeared. Never had he been happier to see it.

    ***************

    You are defeated!

    You may leave the loser''s corner in 30 seconds.

    ***************

    His elation only lasted a few seconds. Then it vanished due to the torment of his ears.

    "Where did you come from, where did you go? Where did you come from, Cotton-Eye Joe?"

    As soon as the orange barrier fell, he sprinted out of the loser''s corner. But where to go from here? The pet bond drew him to his human, but the monster robot waited for him there.

    Ahoncathyr slinked along the wall of the massive building, searching for the spot closest to his human without entering it. When he found it, he settled down for a nap. He felt ashamed of his cowardice, but he saw no path to victory.

    As soon as the tiger closed his eyes, a laser beam hit him. He jumped up and spotted the turrets on the railing. He dodged the next beam, got shot again, and dodged another beam. Slowly, the turrets herded him to the entry of the lair.

    *roar* (Damned if I do, damned if I don''t.)

    He jumped up to the first level.

    *roar* (Are you a cat or a hamster? Fight!)

    And he entered the lair.

    Another epic fight between a fiery tiger and a crafty octopus robot commenced. It ended the same, Ahoncathyr lying on the floor without a drop of stamina left.

    When the robot approached, Ahoncarthy just stared at him coldly.

    *hiss* (You may humiliate me, but you will never subdue me!)

    After the Octopussy scratched his ears and the annoying meowing sound played, it put a fish in front of his nose. Not any fish, salmon, one of his favorites.

    Heroically, Ahoncartyr resisted, for at least one breath, then he snatched up the salmon in one bite.

    *hiss* (You may feed me delicious fish, but you will never subdue me!)

    The snack rekindled his spirits and pool bars. He pounced at the tin can.

    Two minutes later, Ahoncathyr was at his end¡­ again.

    The robot scratched him behind his ears, and the loudspeaker meowed. Again, the tin can produced a salmon. It showed it to him. The loudspeaker repeated the meow.

    Ahoncathyr stared at the fish, but the robot didn''t move. Finally, it vanished the fish and smacked the tiger over the head.

    *growl* (My fish! Give me my fish!)

    The robot scratched him behind his ears, and the loudspeaker meowed. Again, the tin can fetched a salmon. It showed it to him.

    *meow* (What is pride if you can have salmon?)

    The Octopussy put the fish in front of him and petted his head. It changed its skin to a pattern with a tiger and an octopus walking together, hand in hand or in this case, paw in tentacle.

    Ahoncathyr cursed his weakness to the king of fish. First, a human used the flaw to tame him, and now even a robot exploited it!

    ------------------------------------------------

    Some hours earlier, Flora woke up when she felt a kiss on her temple.

    "Hey, Ma. How are you?" Robby whispered.

    "Better," Flora answered, and it was true. "Maybe another kiss and my brain will improve even more."

    Dutifully, Rob planted three more, and Flora hugged him.

    "Did I miss your match?"

    "No, you''ve got 12 hours more in dilation."

    "What are you doing here?" Flora exclaimed and winced. "Go away and prepare!"

    Robby chuckled and gave her a last kiss before he vanished.

    "Milady, Aito is playing with Ahoncathyr."

    Flora raised her eyebrows when she heard the sentence. The video feed of a fiery tiger and a laser-shooting Octopussy confirmed her suspicions.

    "Make sure you configured everything breakable to ignore the damage. Aito dear, if you manage to become friends with the kitty, I''ll buy you ten books; Ten expensive books of your choice. Don''t neglect the barrel training box! I want to use it soon."

    "Beheheeep!"

    Slowly, Flora stood up. While she shuffled to the Jacuzzi, Aidan told her that Aito had already finished the Climbing Race.

    "I will use the barrel in Deriga''s workshop. Please reheat the Jacuzzi and add an Acid Pool with cold runes in the bedroom."

    Flora entered the Climbing Race and tested it out. The barrel rolled as Flora climbed on the inner wall, never reaching the top and even better, never crawling on the bottom. "Good job, Aito." After setting climbing to auto, Flora went back to her bedroom.

    There, she entered the Acid Pool. With her pain settings on 70%, it was a strange experience. The acid burned on her skin, but the icy water cooled her at the same time. She dove deeper in the pool and fought with powerful breaststrokes against the current. Every minute she cast Infinite Breath.

    Of course, she wanted to speak with Aidan, maybe to go over more letters or listen to Bliz tales of icy mountains, but she forced herself to abstain. All that multitasking was the reason for her headache. She had to learn to relax and just concentrate on a single task. Even mixing in the underwater breathing spell was a bit of stretch.

    Flora''s control over her magic was improving. Only one in three spells fizzled out.

    Flora spent the afternoon diving, swimming, and relaxing in the Jacuzzi. When she laid in the hot tub, chilling, she sometimes summoned Bliz for entertainment and head cooling. She filled the day with only the most recreative activities: meditation, polishing her nails and drawing little silver toasters on them, thinking about the perfect vehicle for her and her growing team, and of course, some naps.

    Although Aidan informed her that Deriga and all council members but Minos Irden had sent their recommendations for the entourage, she ignored the letters. Instead, she ordered Aidan to inform them that she would decide the applicants on Wednesday One, cultivate until Friday One, and meet them then.

    Close to the match, Aito sent one of Haidan''s video feeds to Flora. It showed one proud octopussy riding on a dejected tiger. Orange kittens adorned the robot''s skin. When Aito scratched the beast behind the ears, the tiger meowed softly.

    "I guess that counts as being friends?" With narrowed eyes, Flora half asked, and half stated the sentence.

    In victory, Aito threw four tentacles in the air and changed her skin to violet with white hearts.

 141 2.46 Spa Day

    "Alright folks, the match will start in 4 hours. Try to get into your best condition until then. Either you do it on your own, or you take my special offer." Rob grinned. BBQ knew that this kind of smile meant pain. "My mother has a time dilation chamber. Nine of us may use it until the patch. The time in there flows three times faster than in the Metaworld. That means you need at least 90% synchronization if you don''t want to puke. So who is with me?"

    Immediately, Zapple, Hub, Ressa, and Jelonso raised their hands.

    ''Damn. I can''t chicken out if the rest of Team Fire and all of Team Light shows up.'' Reluctantly, BBQ raised his hand. His sync was only at 86%, but he had experienced three times dilation in the past. Except for a bit of vertigo, it had gone over well.

    Normad, Ponda, and Mia raised their hands while Hoffi, Olivia, and Tobias abstained.

    BBQ knew that the first two had sync-rates in the high eighties, too, while Hoffi and Olivia didn''t reach 80. Tobias had over 90. The sly rogue skipped class. BBQ envied him, but at the same time, he knew that because he wasn''t as talented as the others, he had to work harder.

    Rob gave them the address of Auntie Flo''s teleportation circle. It was quite a mouth full.

    BLEAMTO Cathedral of Home Appliances TOBLEAM.

    When BBQ arrived, his instincts lead his eyes to the turrets on top of the two brick walls. Six of them pointed directly to the circle, but he spotted more farther away. When he turned around, he realized that they had landed on the first or second level, and four more turrets aimed at them from the floor.

    BBQ gulped. That wasn''t a cathedral but a *bleep*ing fortress! He felt tiny in front of the 6 meter high walls. Only two doors and a ramp distracted from their massiveness.

    Confidently, Rob strode to the smaller door and waved them in.

    BBQ hurried out of the line of fire, only to appear directly in front of a fighter jet wreck. It was propped up on strange poles. Savage grimaces adorned them. Were those poles kin-routes? One kin-route was worth a shitton of VirDias, and the Auntie used them as mounts for a shipwreck?

    "Your mum is a mad scientist, Bro," Hub said. "I''ve always known it, and that lair is the bloody proof."

    Carefully, BBQ followed his teammates into the maze. His eyes darted left and right, inspecting every crossing and shadow for hidden perils. A whirring sound from the ceiling attracted his gaze. Turrets! Turrets, over turrets, lined the top like a deadly stucco.

    As they got closer to the center, combat sounds reached them. After turning around a corner, a glowing box surrounded by elementals appeared. Fire escaped from the clearance between the door and the frame, light exploded, and a green mist drifted out of it. In the background, they heard heavy strikes hitting a soft target. Meanwhile, the elementals pelted the box with their attacks.

    Suddenly, a monster appeared on the ledge of one of the bigger containers.

    Never BBQ had been so thankful that the Cetviwos spared restroom activities. He would have soiled his pants in Real Life.

    A fireball, a Fire Shot, several Smites, and a Lightning Bolt flew towards the monster, who disappeared in a fiery cloud.

    "That''s one of Auntie''s robots. What are you doing?" Mia asked.

    "Do I really have to tell you to behave? My mother said that you shouldn''t destroy her toys. Okay, she only said, Hub shouldn''t waste them, but that counts for all of you!"

    "Beep!" The monster reappeared from the depth of the container, unharmed. It was just a small octopus with peace signs glowing on its skin. For the number of spells they had produced, it was remarkably intact. It waved to them and spread a banner beneath the container. "Library Container. Store your books while training, and fetch them afterward. You will receive a digitalized copy of them."

    Relieved, most of the group laughed. BBQ was happy that he wasn''t the only one on edge.

    "Aidan, what boxes are in the workshop and simulation grounds?"

    From an invisible sound system, a cultured, male voice listed the available boxes. The only unfamiliar one was the Climbing Race. Usually, BBQ would be interested in raising his climbing ability, but he wasn''t in the mood for new experiences.

    "Any more advice from my mother?" Rob asked.

    "She said that you would know without prompting that you had to pay in kisses, Young Master."

    Hub sniggered.

    "Yes, of course, I''m aware," Rob said, grinning. "But thanks for the reminder, mate."

    ------------------------------------------------

    "I''ll stay here," Ahoncathyr growled when Ressa wanted to put him into the pet bag. The eyes of the fiery tiger never left the octopus robot.

    "Suit yourself," Ressa shrugged and activated the Treadmill Tunnel before logging into the workshop of her mate''s mother.

    Dismissively, Ahoncathyr flicked his tail. His full concentration was on his nemesis, the Octopussy. They had unfinished business. He couldn''t accept that a small robot bested him twice. Now that it didn''t have it human support it, he would show the tin can what it meant to face a boss level creature!

    *roar* (Face your demise, tin can)!

    As the octopus cheekily waved from its perch, the peace symbols on its skin transformed into crossed weapons.

    With a might jump, Ahoncathyr crossed the distance, but the robot had already left for the next container. While the robot climbed on top of a boxing box, it shot at the angry tiger with its two laser tentacles.

    Hissing, the tiger followed. He swiped at the robot''s head but only hit one of its tentacles.

    The robot swung over the edge and mounted the next box.

    Suddenly, laser beams from all directions targeted the tiger.

    *roar* (Impertinence! Stay out of my fight!)

    He dodged two but then got hit by a third. To his astonishment, his HP went up. The lasers healed him! When he stood still to fill his pool, the Octopussy shot at him again. Its lasers still hurt him.

    Ahoncathyr jumped on the container and swiped at the Octopussy, who sat on the top of a box. The tin can danced away, and he hit the box instead. Although his claws produced sparks, the container was unharmed.

    While the miss aggravated Ahoncathyr, he was delighted that the furniture seemed to be firm. He knew that humans got huffy when he sharpened his claws on their stuff. Knowing that the alpha''s mother was a steady builder, set him free to let loose.

    \u003cBurning the Jungle\u003e

    Fire exploded out of him. The shockwave rattled the boxes and flung the octopus away.

    This time, the healing turrets focused on the Octopussy. Ahoncathyr agreed that it was only fair. It wouldn''t matter anyway. When he bit the robot''s head off, no turret could reattach it!

    The tiger and the robot battled to their hearts'' content. Laser beams and flames fought for dominance, but none of them could reach a decisive victory.

    First, Ahoncathyhr''s mana ran dry. So, he threw the full weight of his massive body into the combat. But he wasn''t used to all the jumping needed to follow the robot into the heights of the maze. His muscles started to hurt.

    When the robot scaled another tower of boxes, Ahoncathyr stalked close to the wall, out of the line of sight of his nemesis. He would attack him like a true ambush predator!

    Suddenly, the robot landed on his back, stabbing its vibro-knife into his flank!

    Ahoncathyr rolled on the floor, and the octopus dislodged itself, but as soon as he stopped, it hopped again on his back. Because of the tiger''s exhaustion, he wasn''t as fast as at his best.

    *roar* (I squish you, sea bug!)

    *beheheheheep*

    Finally, his claw smashed into the tin can and sent it flying. Undaunted, the robot scurried on the next box and shot him.

    Ahoncathyr lay down and closed his eyes, ignoring the laser. The healing turrets hadn''t led him down so far¡ªtime to regenerate some stamina and mana.

    The Octopussy ignited a skill, and the laser beams rained on the tiger. All of them were hitting his head. His HP drained away like Ressa''s tequila when she had an especially bad or an especially good night. The bombardment stopped when only a sliver of his health remained.

    The tiger opened his eyes and stared at the Octopussy, who came closer. He tightened his muscles, ready for the last gambit. When the robot entered his reach, he pounced.

    Two tentacles hit his side. The robot used them to push himself out of harm''s way.

    Ahoncathyr stayed on the ground. His hot breath wheezed out of his maw. The octopus neared again, but he could only swipe half-heartedly at it. He was spent.

    The robot dodged his claw with ease. Then it petted his head! That little shite dared to touch his majestic crown!

    Ahoncathyr growled.

    The robot reached out again, scratching behind the tiger''s ear.

    *growl* (Let me die in combat)

    *beep, beep*

    The robot shot him in the same rhythm as the turrets healed him.

    Ahoncathyr could get no rest.

    Finally, the robot petted him again. Loudspeakers transmitted "Meow".

    Five seconds went by in peace. Then the robot scratched him behind the ear, and the meow sounded anew. The Octopussy nodded at him and shot at him.

    *half whimper half growl* (Kill me!)

    Ear scratch. 2 seconds break. Loudspeakers: "Meow." 3 seconds break. Three whacks on the head. 22 seconds of laser fire and healing.

    Ear scratch. 2 seconds break. Loudspeakers: "Meow." 3 seconds break. Three whacks on the head. 22 seconds of laser fire and healing.

    Ear scratch. 2 seconds break. Loudspeakers: "Meow." 3 seconds break. Three whacks on the head. 22 seconds of laser fire and healing.

    Did the tin can want him to imitate the sound? He was a tiger boss and not a house cat! Ahoncathyr wanted to burn the world and himself with it! If it were possible to die out of shame, his corpse would have rotted to dust! Finally, he had regenerated enough mana and stamina for one Fire Swipe. He had to make it count!

    When the little pest arrived to scratch him, he used all his remaining mana to ignite his paw. With one fiery swipe, he hit the tin can on his head, sending it crashing into the wall.

    Although the robot was severely burned and multiple tentacles hang limply on the floor, it still moved. When the healing turrets focused on the robot, Ahoncathyr knew he failed. He let his head fall on his paws and closed his eyes.

    *beep* The voice of the robot sounded regretful.

    Then Ahoncarthy felt a sharp pain in his head and a familiar orange message appeared. Never had he been happier to see it.

    ***************

    You are defeated!

    You may leave the loser''s corner in 30 seconds.

    ***************

    His elation only lasted a few seconds. Then it vanished due to the torment of his ears.

    "Where did you come from, where did you go? Where did you come from, Cotton-Eye Joe?"

    As soon as the orange barrier fell, he sprinted out of the loser''s corner. But where to go from here? The pet bond drew him to his human, but the monster robot waited for him there.

    Ahoncathyr slinked along the wall of the massive building, searching for the spot closest to his human without entering it. When he found it, he settled down for a nap. He felt ashamed of his cowardice, but he saw no path to victory.

    As soon as the tiger closed his eyes, a laser beam hit him. He jumped up and spotted the turrets on the railing. He dodged the next beam, got shot again, and dodged another beam. Slowly, the turrets herded him to the entry of the lair.

    *roar* (Damned if I do, damned if I don''t.)

    He jumped up to the first level.

    *roar* (Are you a cat or a hamster? Fight!)

    And he entered the lair.

    Another epic fight between a fiery tiger and a crafty octopus robot commenced. It ended the same, Ahoncathyr lying on the floor without a drop of stamina left.

    When the robot approached, Ahoncarthy just stared at him coldly.

    *hiss* (You may humiliate me, but you will never subdue me!)

    After the Octopussy scratched his ears and the annoying meowing sound played, it put a fish in front of his nose. Not any fish, salmon, one of his favorites.

    Heroically, Ahoncartyr resisted, for at least one breath, then he snatched up the salmon in one bite.

    *hiss* (You may feed me delicious fish, but you will never subdue me!)

    The snack rekindled his spirits and pool bars. He pounced at the tin can.

    Two minutes later, Ahoncathyr was at his end¡­ again.

    The robot scratched him behind his ears, and the loudspeaker meowed. Again, the tin can produced a salmon. It showed it to him. The loudspeaker repeated the meow.

    Ahoncathyr stared at the fish, but the robot didn''t move. Finally, it vanished the fish and smacked the tiger over the head.

    *growl* (My fish! Give me my fish!)

    The robot scratched him behind his ears, and the loudspeaker meowed. Again, the tin can fetched a salmon. It showed it to him.

    *meow* (What is pride if you can have salmon?)

    The Octopussy put the fish in front of him and petted his head. It changed its skin to a pattern with a tiger and an octopus walking together, hand in hand or in this case, paw in tentacle.

    Ahoncathyr cursed his weakness to the king of fish. First, a human used the flaw to tame him, and now even a robot exploited it!

    ------------------------------------------------

    Some hours earlier, Flora woke up when she felt a kiss on her temple.

    "Hey, Ma. How are you?" Robby whispered.

    "Better," Flora answered, and it was true. "Maybe another kiss and my brain will improve even more."

    Dutifully, Rob planted three more, and Flora hugged him.

    "Did I miss your match?"

    "No, you''ve got 12 hours more in dilation."

    "What are you doing here?" Flora exclaimed and winced. "Go away and prepare!"

    Robby chuckled and gave her a last kiss before he vanished.

    "Milady, Aito is playing with Ahoncathyr."

    Flora raised her eyebrows when she heard the sentence. The video feed of a fiery tiger and a laser-shooting Octopussy confirmed her suspicions.

    "Make sure you configured everything breakable to ignore the damage. Aito dear, if you manage to become friends with the kitty, I''ll buy you ten books; Ten expensive books of your choice. Don''t neglect the barrel training box! I want to use it soon."

    "Beheheeep!"

    Slowly, Flora stood up. While she shuffled to the Jacuzzi, Aidan told her that Aito had already finished the Climbing Race.

    "I will use the barrel in Deriga''s workshop. Please reheat the Jacuzzi and add an Acid Pool with cold runes in the bedroom."

    Flora entered the Climbing Race and tested it out. The barrel rolled as Flora climbed on the inner wall, never reaching the top and even better, never crawling on the bottom. "Good job, Aito." After setting climbing to auto, Flora went back to her bedroom.

    There, she entered the Acid Pool. With her pain settings on 70%, it was a strange experience. The acid burned on her skin, but the icy water cooled her at the same time. She dove deeper in the pool and fought with powerful breaststrokes against the current. Every minute she cast Infinite Breath.

    Of course, she wanted to speak with Aidan, maybe to go over more letters or listen to Bliz tales of icy mountains, but she forced herself to abstain. All that multitasking was the reason for her headache. She had to learn to relax and just concentrate on a single task. Even mixing in the underwater breathing spell was a bit of stretch.

    Flora''s control over her magic was improving. Only one in three spells fizzled out.

    Flora spent the afternoon diving, swimming, and relaxing in the Jacuzzi. When she laid in the hot tub, chilling, she sometimes summoned Bliz for entertainment and head cooling. She filled the day with only the most recreative activities: meditation, polishing her nails and drawing little silver toasters on them, thinking about the perfect vehicle for her and her growing team, and of course, some naps.

    Although Aidan informed her that Deriga and all council members but Minos Irden had sent their recommendations for the entourage, she ignored the letters. Instead, she ordered Aidan to inform them that she would decide the applicants on Wednesday One, cultivate until Friday One, and meet them then.

    Close to the match, Aito sent one of Haidan''s video feeds to Flora. It showed one proud octopussy riding on a dejected tiger. Orange kittens adorned the robot''s skin. When Aito scratched the beast behind the ears, the tiger meowed softly.

    "I guess that counts as being friends?" With narrowed eyes, Flora half asked, and half stated the sentence.

    In victory, Aito threw four tentacles in the air and changed her skin to violet with white hearts.

 142 2.47 Riverstones versus Brooklyn Bouncers â€“ Pre Game and 1v1

    "Sorry, I''m cutting it close, love. Aimee was lecturing me about VR addiction." Eddie winked. "I believe she will join us soon in the Cetviwos."

    Flora laughed, though she disagreed with Eddie. Aimee was too sensible to waste her time with VR.

    "Then it took a while to find a free box. You have a full house! It seemed that everybody who isn''t in the PVP team gathered in your lair."

    While Eddie and Flora chatted, Aidan brought up the video stream. Because of the time dilation, it ran awfully slow.

    "Do you know about the competition format?" Eddie asked as he joined Flora in the Jacuzzi.

    Flora shook her head.

    "The guys told me a bit about it while working on the sleeping boats. There are multiple events, including a tag team match. They tried to explain the rules to me, but honestly, I think we need to rely on the commentators to make sense of it."

    "Uh, it will be hard listening to them. With the time dilation in effect, I have already forgotten the beginning of the sentence when they reach the end." Flora tried one of the caramelized strawberries Eddie had brought."Hmm, delicious! Should we ask Mia if she wants to do the commentating for us?"

    "Sure, love! Even though that means wearing shorts. You know how teenagers are; they don''t like to look at their future in its naked glory."

    A call later, Mia joined them, but she refused to enter the Jacuzzi. Aidan fetched her an easy chair, and she settled down next to the tub.

    The stream showed a massive stadion filled to the brink with fans. Flora was happy to be in her Jacuzzi, but a small part of her questioned how it would feel to be surrounded by a huge crowd cheering for her son.

    "Why are we hiding here? That looks like fun! Next time we''ll build some banners and join the party!" Eddie said.

    "The audience is mostly computer-generated. 10v10 Tier 5 B-rank is popular, but not that much." Mia zoomed into the bleachers. A narrow strip in the middle of the elongated part was nearly empty. Only a sleeping guy with a Clan Riverstones shirt lay next to an armored dude who stared with glassy eyes at the field. On the strip next to it was a group of five people with a crumpled "Brooklyn Bowlers" banner and five kegs of beer. "The advantage of the stream is that you can switch between camera angles and even watch from the point of view of every player. Additionally, you can display the stats and progress according to your preference."

    "Please feel free to guide us through this. I know nothing about that technology... and the competition as a whole." Flora said. "So what are the stakes? If we lose, are we out of the tournament?"

    "That sounds a lot better than what I''ve heard. I spoke with a guy who sounded like we will fall to the C league, for sure." Eddie said.

    "The C league is pretty strong at the moment, so we could lose our spot in the B league. Nonetheless, I want to take part in the B-Challenge tournament. Our section was tough; we have a real chance of doing well. There is a hidden boon: the winner has a chance to participate in the A-Challenge tournament. The 20 best B teams, the eight worst A teams, the winner of the B-Challenge, and three wildcards compete for eight spots in the A league."

    Flora''s stressed brain could only follow half of it. She summarized that winning was good, but not winning might not be the end.

    The teams walked in. Robby, in his Aladin costume, led the Riverstones. His golden skin shimmered in tandem with the golden ornaments decorating his body. Even though his face was relaxed, Flora knew he was in the zone. Behind him walked his fianc¨¦e, the red-haired Ressa, with her tiger Ahoncathyr. Jelonso Emba, the Fire Shield and BBQ Grillmaster, the Fire Healer, followed. Next came Nomads Home, the taciturn archer, a bored Olivandra Cascade, and the sleazy Too Biased. The group''s tail end was slower because the Paladins Hoffi and Hub and the giddy Radiant Priest Zapple waved at the audience and sent kisses their way.

    "They have their names displayed over their heads! That''s so handy!" Flora exclaimed. Additionally, their clan, health, and mana bar hovered below the names.

    "The standard configuration includes level, class, and rating," Eddie said. "Why didn''t you display those as well, Mia?"

    "Because it''s misleading. Look at that Janitor," Mia pointed to one guy in a batticle in the lineup of the Brooklyn Bowlers." With tricks, you can manipulate your class tree to display a harmless class. There''s a whole meme about ''Flee, it''s a Janitor!''. Players hide their technology branch classes behind it. Lumberjack for the Survival Branch, Salesman for the Trick branch, and Butcher for the Warrior branch are three more common hiding classes. More people are afraid of Janitors than of Battlicle Drivers, so the trick lost all meaning."

    Flowing Flowers to Aidan: "Can you rearrange my tree that Janitor is the root class?"

    "Yes, Milady."

    Eddie glanced above Flora''s head and chuckled.

    "I would rather be ready for anything my opponent throws at me than have false expectations about their skill set," Mia added. "Level is only important if one is in a PvP enabled zone without a level cap. There aren''t many of them. If I enter one, I''ll enable the level display."

    "Aidan, I want the same config as Mia," Flora said and returned to watching the stream.

    The Brooklyn Bowlers were six male and four female players, mostly Latin. Three wore technological gadgets, the rest were dressed fantasy style.

    The twenty players bowed and then walked to the dugouts, one with the sine curve and two stones for the Riverstones and one with a bowling ball and the letters "BB" for the Brooklyn Bowlers and, of course, advertisement of their sponsors. A bowling arcade supported the Brooklyn Bowlers and a scooter manufacturer the Riverstones.

    Nomads Home and a black-haired woman in a red robe remained in the middle of the field. "Camomila Te" was printed above the head of the Latina.

    An arrow appeared between them and spun around until it stopped pointing at Te.

    "Camomila is allowed to chose the arena. The first event is 1 versus 1, one round." Mia explained.

    The field changed into a circus with a radius of 25 meters without any obstacles.

    "A bad pick for Norman. He can''t utilize his longer range."

    The match started. Immediately, a pack of transparent dogs sprang out of Nomads'' bow and sprinted to the mage.

    "Whoa! What''s that?" Flora exclaimed. "Ghost pets?"

    "Close, Ghost Hounds. It''s the signature skill of his class, Ranger of the Hunt."

    Camila fired small fiery spheres in Norman''s direction until the first dog reached her. Then a ring of fire billowed out with the mage in the center. The flames moved around her, licking at the dog. They ate the misty substance until nothing of the ghost hound remained.

    "Not good. That is no regular Ring of Fire. She morphed it tremendously. Normally it''s an instant cast with a 10-second duration, but she seems to channel it. Not to mention that it''s much more powerful than the regular version." Mia frowned. "The spell must cost quite a bit of mana. Ghost Hounds isn''t cheap either. Maybe their mana capacity decides this match."

    Norman shot arrows with no discernable special effect while the mage stayed with the spheres. Flora identified them as the cantrip of an elemental focus. Every 5 seconds, a new ghost hound appeared, dashed to the mage and got eaten by the fire.

    "Why aren''t they using other skills as well?" Flora asked.

    "It isn''t easy to cast two skills at the same time. But I agree, they should be able to dual cast during such steady flowing combat."

    "Steady flow is too nice. Mind-numbingly boring would describe it better," Eddie interjected.

    "Ranger and Mage have some skills with long cast times." Mia shrugged. "Here it comes!"

    Just as a glow formed around Camomila''s hand, a quick shot hit her with a bang. Then everything happened faster than Flora could follow. Arrows and flame lances crossed paths, and now two mages fired at Norman. Fiery prison bars surrounded the blond man.

    Flora blinked, but she still saw two Camomilas. "What happened?"

    "Nomad shot a skill-interrupting arrow because he thought the mage would cast a significant spell. But it was a trap. Somehow she conjured a clone that reflected the interrupt and landed the big spell as well. For the next few seconds, Nomad can''t use his whole skill set. I''m not sure how much she managed to lock."

    "I want a clone! What spell is it?" Eddie asked grinning.

    "It looks like Doppelganger. That''s a trick skill, though. Normally, mages have clones made out their element, so maybe Camomila''s build isn''t a straight mage," Mia said. "But the real downer is the Fire Prison. If he doesn''t manage to escape, he''ll be toast."

    Flora thought that there were worse fates than being a toast, but she knew it wasn''t a popular opinion.

    Meanwhile, Norman slid through one of the fire bars. The prison began to shrink just as he exited. Two seconds later, it imploded. Nomad''s leather armor smoked, but at least he had escaped.

    "Nomad is really unlucky. Camomila counters his class. It might be due to a tactical error. Nomad and Too Biased were the only players who Robby had picked for the first event the whole season. Camomila counters both of them with that hellish Ring of Fire. The Bowlers did their homework."

    "Don''t speak as if the match is already over. Both have more than 80% health." Flora said but then stopped short. "Why do they have so much health left? Are they throwing cotton-wool balls?"

    The two Camomilas pelted the poor Norman. Her fireballs looked sharp and hotter than Flora''s. The rangers HP bar sank.

    "They have stacked defense up to the soft cap of 75%. Even some damage dealers in tier 4 do it."

    Flora tried to wrap her head around the idea. "Does that mean that only 25 damage gets through when I hit them with a 100 damage Fireball? Without them using any defensive skills?"

    "Yes, usually even lower."

    "Wow¡­ " Eddie said. "Isn''t it better to invest in your attacks if you are a damage dealer?"

    "Yes, sure. The current Meta for DDs is 100 Phys Def, 100 Mag Def. You can easily get these through training. That''s an OV of 32. Then you use your BaPa and your equipment to bridge the 43 point OV gap."

    "Bapa?"

    In the fight, Nomads Home managed to lure the mage into a trap. While she was stuck, he landed some nice hits. However, when the mage freed herself, she still had more HP than him.

    "Badge Pattern. It''s only available at level 100. You know the + OV you get from big achievements? If you have + 5 OV in every attribute, you get little marbles instead. You stick them into your badge for extra OV."

    The air in the arena started to flicker like in a desert.

    "Fire Domain!" Mia whistled. "You need level 250 fire affinity for it."

    Norman was smoldering hot?literally. His green shoulder pads were even burning. Now, the decline of his HP bar visible to the naked eye. Only when the bar reached 30%, did it slow down.

    "Another level 100 gimmick is finishers. Every class gets one. You can only use them if your target has less than 30% health." Mia said as the mage threw a fireball. "Watch."

    The fireball started out smaller than the regular spell, and Flora wouldn''t have noticed anything differently if Mia hadn''t pointed it out. But with every meter of flight, it grew bigger. Like a rocket, it shot in the sky. When it fell, it was as big as him.

    The ranger rolled away, but the mini sun homed into his position. The explosion tinted the entire screen red. Even the arena floor had cracked under the power of the spell. Miraculously, Normad survived but with only 15% health left.

    Flora and Eddie gaped at the screen.

    "Remind me to be nice to everybody above level 100, love," Eddie said, and Flora nodded.

    Norman did everything he could, but the mage hunted him relentlessly. Soon the round ended with her win.

    Clan Riverstones vs. Brooklyn Bowlers: 0:1.

    "The boss is up next," Mia said.

 143 2.48 RSvBB â€“ Tag Team and 3v3

    For the Riverstones, Hub and Robby entered the ring. The Brooklyn Bowlers sent a red and gold batticle and a drone driver. The batticle was at least three meters high and moved on three mechanical legs. On its shoulders rested thick rail guns and pincers protruded from its hips. "Long3rd Leg" stood above it.

    "I don''t get the name. All three legs of his batticle have the same length." Flora said.

    Eddie coughed. "The third leg of the player, love. He claims that his dong prong hongs long."

    Flora was enlightened, even though she didn''t believe it. Anybody with the name of Mostexcellent Toasterwizard surely had no clue about toasters. The toasters had to speak for themselves! Anyway, she was the most excellent toaster wizard, so any other person named in this fashion had to be a liar. Now, Flora had the urge to beat up that hypothetical person. Video Games promoted violence! Only a bit over a week in VR, and she wanted to behave like a brute!

    The four players bowed to each other, then Robby and the drone guy, Dude TheDude, walked behind the ropes. Hub, in his shiny paladin armor, and Long3rd remained in the ring.

    "The second event is a tag team match. Two players fight inside the ring. If one of the combatants doesn''t want to fight anymore, they can tag their teammate by touching them. Then they have 5 seconds to attack together. Afterward, the player gets ported outside the ring." Mia explained.

    Like every fighting obsessed boy, Robby had his WWE phase, so Flora was familiar with the concept and the proper behavior for the audience. "Smash those heels, son!" Flora jumped up, splashing Eddie and Mia with water.

    Because Hub and Long3rd started the fight, Flora calmed down. "Prepare to clap! In this bedroom, cheering for my sweetie is obligatory!" She ordered her companions. "Even if you have to support Hub!" Oh, the sacrifices she took for her son!

    Under bombardment, Hub ran towards the massive machine. Compared to the red-golden batticle, Hub looked small but shiny. Flora recognized the glow of Divine Radiance and the glimmer of Retaliation. The bullets rebounded from his armor and shield.

    The batticle stopped pelting the paladin as soon as it noticed that its own fire hit it. Instead, it accelerated towards the opponent.

    Hub charged as well. With an ear-splitting bang, the large tin can and the small tin can collided. Hub bounced off, but despite the thing called physics, the batticle took a step back as well.

    Mia shook her head. Flora interpreted that reaction that the move was as silly as it looked.

    The opponents traded blows, and to Flora''s astonishment, Hub seemed to be winning. He lost only a quarter of his hit points, while the batticle lost half.

    "Only the batticle. I configured the display that the driver''s bar is only visible when the vehicle is kaputt."

    The batticle ran towards the ropes where the drone driver waited. Because it used Nitro, greenish jets propelled it forward.

    Although Hub risked damage from the fire, he attacked the hamstring of the machine. Close to the ropes, he veered off and raced to Robby. The two combatants tagged their teammates simultaneously.

    As Robby vaulted over the ropes, Flora jumped up again. "Get him, son!"

    "Go for it, honey plum!" Eddie followed suit.

    Mia looked at the two pumped up senior citizens and shrugged. "Keep pushing, boss." She said perfunctorily.

    The Dude TheDude had joined the fight as well, and his drones fired at Hub.

    The two Riverstones leaders exploded in light. They cast BlessAndCondemn with such a speed that a strobe light would be envious. Their mana bars plummeted, but Hub''s health bar got topped off. The health bars of their enemies flickered, only the bar of the Dude lost a few percentages.

    "Dude is using cluster maintenance. They should focus on him." Mia said.

    As if Robby had listened in, he vanished and reappeared behind the drone operator. His fist flew to the Dude''s head. Just when it was about to hit, a shield flared up. The bluish membrane shattered but took the momentum of the punch with it.

    The Dude''s head barely moved when the fist landed. Activating his rocket boots, he dashed away.

    Flora thought it was a very light mech-suit, or maybe only some powered, unconnected armor parts. His right hand and shoes looked like power armor, and his helmet was clearly high tech. His red and silver breastplate had some buttons on it, which led to Flora questioning the design''s wisdom. What kind of meaningful use could buttons have that an opponent could activate with a punch? Or maybe it was a trap? Flora had both questions and ideas.

    Meanwhile, Hub and Long3rd were ported out of the ring. They followed the combatants and stayed as close as possible to them.

    Robby chased the Dude, but his drones ran interference. They looked like flying easter eggs as big as abbot Irdens''s upper body. Not only did they shoot on Rob, they also rammed him.

    From the spectators'' position, it seemed that the Dude did nothing but evade the monk. However, Flora saw his combat tool flashing. He was still channeling Cluster Maintenance.

    "Positioning is critical in tag team matches, even more so than usual. The people inside can''t target the people outside and vice versa. To be exact, the outside people can use no skills at all. However, AoE cast from inside can hit the outside players." Mia explained. "Currently, TheDude is healing the batticle. Rob tries to wrangle him in the middle of the ring, where he is out of reach."

    Robby charged at his opponent, but a drone swerved to him from the back. Flipping, he kicked it right in the path of the second drone. They collided, and one of them even crashed on the ground.

    "Wow, nice work! I didn''t expect them to hit each other. Normally, friendly objects can''t collide." Eddie exclaimed.

    "Yeah, the rules about that are hard to grasp and won''t work reliably. In this instance, the drone counted as weaponized, so it hit its mate." Mia answered.

    Robby had reached the Dude and half dragged and half threw him to the middle of the ring.

    The drone operator tried to get up, but Robby kicked his shoulders, then dropped his knee on his torso. Still lying on his back, the Dude activated his rocket boots and slid over the floor.

    Robby fell off but rolled to his feet and leaped towards the target of the Dude, the ropes. He came down just in front of the Dude and attempted to kick his head. His foot collided with it, but the sliding Dude''s momentum was too strong and took him down.

    They grappled on the ground, Robby clearly the more experienced melee fighter. However, the drones weren''t idle. Shooting, they sped towards Robby and crashed into him, targeting his head.

    At the last moment, Robby ducked. Although he dodged the drone, the Dude capitalized on it and shocked him. On the center of Robby''s shaved head was a ponytail. Under the influence of the electricity, it now looked like an antenna.

    Flora was torn between her protective mother instincts and laughing.

    While Robby twitched, the Dude made it to the ropes and tagged his partner.

    Looking at the HP, team Riverstones seemed to do great. Hub was full, Robby at 75%, whereas the Dude only had 50% and the batticle 70%. However, Robby was still twitching when the batticle entered the ring.

    "Snap out of it, baby," Flora prayed.

    "He''s faking," Mia said.

    When the batticle wanted to stomp on the shaking clan leader, Robby exploded to the right and curved around it. He elbowed the Dude so hard that he went airborne. With flashing fists, Robby hit him a few times until the drone-operator smashed into the ropes.

    There, Hub waited for them. A fist bump later, he joined Robby in pummeling the drone dude. Additionally, he spammed Bless and Condemn.

    The batticle moved to the other end of the ring and spewed out high caliber bullets. Although the drones shot too and the air around the drone operator crackled, Robby''s HP grew, and Hub''s HP bar sank only a tiny bit.

    Flora was disappointed when the Dude was ported off the ring. He had only 35% health left; just a few seconds more, and he would be a goner.

    Hub cast spells on Robby until the latter hopped over the ropes. They bumped fists, and Robby vaulted back in.

    "Is that a legal move?" Eddie asked. "Not that I''m complaining, but if they tag as soon as their team times finishes, they get another 5 seconds together, right?"

    "Yes. You have to scare off the outside partner with AoE or wrangle the inside partner away from the ropes."

    Glowing with the power of Retaliation, Hub charged at the batticle, and Robby used him as living shield, moving in his shadow zone.

    They tore into the batticle like a blender into the dough. When Hub was ported out, only half of its HP remained, whereas Robby''s bar was close to full.

    Robby mounted the machine. His legs clamped around the right railgun as his hands clawed on the wires of the left rail gun.

    One pincer of the batticle stabbed into Robby''s flank, but he was in the blind spot of all the other offensive means. The machine lumbered to the ropes. Due to Hub''s efforts in hamstringing it, the progress was slow enough for Robby to dismantle one of the guns.

    When the Dude joined the fight, Robby tagged Hub, and they focused on the healer.

    "Nice interrupts," Mia commented. Flora hadn''t noticed it, but the Brooklyn Bowlers'' HP wasn''t rising, so her boys had done something right. Before the joined time ran out, they killed the Dude with finishers.

    Hub and Robby took turns dealing with the batticle. Long3d only resisted perfunctorily.

    Clan Riverstones vs. Brooklyn Bowlers: 2:1.

    Flora grinned, proud of her boy.

    Team Fire took the stage, all dressed in red and orange colors.

    For the Brooklyn Bowlers, two guys and a girl in street clothes walked to the middle.

    This time, the Riverstones won the honor to select the arena. The ring vanished, and a cave inside a volcano replaced it. Magma streams flowed between black rocks congregating in a burning lake. The arena was bigger than the stadium.

    "3v3 PvP is the next event?one point for every killed player until nobody survives."

    When the match started, the Brooklyn Bowlers vanished.

    Team Fire conjured walls of fire that combed through the arena until they found the opponents. The combat flowed back and forth, but the Riverstones had an advantage.

    After Ahoncartyr tore into a rogue named Wonker Warrens, their healer was distracted, and Ressa and Emba killed him.

    The remaining woman and Wonker ganged up on BBQ and threw him into the lava lake.

    Instead of sinking, the Fire Healer levitated on the surface and pulled the Wonker to him. The rogue ported away, but the lava had hurt his legs, limiting his mobility.

    The woman, another Latina with blond dyed long hair, threw a knife at BBQ, disrupting his levitation. BBQ plummeted into the lava.

    Ressa and Emba ripped into the distracted woman and the hurt rogue and won the match for the Riverstones.

    Clan Riverstones vs. Brooklyn Bowlers: 5:2.

    Flora, Eddie, and Mia clapped.

    "It''s going great for our clanmates!" Flora cheered and high-fived Eddie.

    Mia said nothing, but Flora could see that she disagreed.

    "4v4 Relay is up next."

 144 2.49 RSvBB â€“ 4v4 Relay and 10v10

    "Two people start, as soon as one of them dies, the next teammate replaces them. So, the first person may wipe out the opposing team. One point for each killed opponent is on the table. In this event, healers shine."

    Robby must have thought the same because Zapple, the blue-haired Radiant Priest, started the Riverstones lineup. His opponent was a stout woman in a black and green medium mech-suit, Plaga Sobreti.

    While Flora knew about half the spells Zapple used, she had no clue what Plaga''s deal was. She closed in on the healer now and then and snapped her whip a lot, but Flora saw no visual impact.

    The health of both combatants sank very slowly. After a minute of the fight, they were still at 90%, but Zapple''s mana was only 60%, even though he had used Relight and Pray for mana. Little symbols had appeared next to his bars. When there were one dozen, Flora zoomed in. She recognized two, poisoned and contaminated.

    "Plaga uses debuffs. I recognized Witch spells, prayers, and commands. She must have quite the peculiar tree, mixing magic with technology." Mia said.

    Flora raised her eyebrows. "I think it''s totally reasonable to wear a mech-suit and use magic and prayers."

    "No, it''s not if you aren''t going for metal magic. That''s at least the common wisdom. The amount of affinities she has to train is too much. Nonetheless, it seems to be working for her. I would love to see her levels. With the boxes training, Zapple should have resisted more of them if they were really underdeveloped."

    "Do you think I should focus on one branch?" Flora asked. She saw parallels between Plaga''s playstyle and her own. "Please, give me your honest opinion as my consultant."

    "I believe that you should find a coherent playstyle. Something you like, something you are good in and with components that are together bigger than apart. But you have time until level 100 to do that. From then on, level only the parts that elevate that playstyle."

    "Sounds like a plan." Flora nodded. "Level 100 is far away; I can experiment till then."

    Eddie laughed. "Zapple turned it around! Oh, that boy. He transferred all the debuffs to Plaga. Sorry to interrupt your consultation, dear. If you want to know my two cents, just have fun. We are too old to power-game."

    "No, you may be too old. I''m just the right age to prove to those youngsters how awesome toasters are¡­ no, I mean, how awesome power-gamey I am!" Flora exclaimed. Silently she added: ''And that I don''t have to go into a retirement home.''

    "You can''t achieve the reaction times of the youngsters," Eddie said.

    Plaga''s HP finally started to fall, but Zapple''s mana ran out first.

    When he was defeated, Too Biased replaced him. The Black Guard tore with his two daggers into the mech-suit operator. Still, she managed to load him up with half a dozen debuffs, so he perished under the barrage of her substitute, a batticle driver with one drone.

    "That''s the team leader," Mia said. His name was DonTippo Bucktown, and his batticle had was similar to Long3rds, three-legged and with heavy guns.

    For the Riverstones, Olivia came up next. The healer and the batticle fought until the dogfight depleted her mana.

    Last and definitely least, the Paladin Hoffi arrived in the arena. Soon afterward, he perished as well.

    Clan Riverstones vs. Brooklyn Bowlers: 6:6.

    "Wow, our lead melted fast," Eddie said. Flora could only nod.

    "The last event is the 10v10 match?5 points for winning, 1 point each for the best healer, tank, and DD, 1 point for the MVP, and 1 point for accomplishing an optional objective," Mia explained. "If the team has equal points, the competition goes to the winner of the 10v10. I''m very interested in what kind of strategy Robby chooses."

    "What do you mean by strategy?"

    "Whether he will play for the win or if he just tries to get the 4 points we need to stay in the B league."

    Flora raised her brows. She had already forgotten about that dilemma. Her first instinct was that they should play it safe, but could they reach the other goals risk-free? Probably not. "What would you suggest?"

    "It depends on the map." Mia had her eyes on the screen. As the arena filled with water, her mouth twitched. "Robby''s hunch was right; it''s Perl Reef, an underwater map. Now, I''m happy that I didn''t partake because my batticle has only shitty underwater mods."

    "Do you think you could have made a difference?" Flora asked. No challenge was in her tone, just curiosity.

    "The rounds went well for us. If I had joined, I would have replaced Hoffi in the team and Norman at the 1v1. I''m not confident to say that I would have defeated Camomila for sure, but I would have bet on me. However, that would have freed up Norman for the 4v4 Relay. With him, we would have killed one more guy. So the difference would be 1-2 points. If Hoffi had been assigned to the 1v1, we still had one more point." Mia shrugged. "Hindsight is 20/20. We are lucky enough that Team Fire pulled through. They had a bad matchup; rogues are mage killers. Nonetheless, they pulled it off."

    "What do you suggest Robby should do on this map?" Eddie asked while he zoomed around the area. Glowing Shells as big as sandboxes lay on the ocean bed, sharks circling them like watchdogs.

    "The primary objective is to get pearls from the clams. The team, which gets more, wins the match. The mission for the additional points isn''t fixed. I only know of two possible options: Kill the most sharks and kill the ship''s kobold." Mia zoomed onto a shipwreck in one corner of the map. "If it''s the first, we better go for the win. You have to kill the sharks to get the pearls anyway. If it''s the second option, Robby has to assign 3-5 guys just to kill the boss. The rest could harass the Brooklyn Bowlers. It might be possible to get the 4 points."

    "I would try to win the match. Losing will attempting to Rock and Rule is better than losing with some damage mitigation tactic." Eddie said.

    Both teams had entered the water and floated on the surface. Immediately, Flora enlargened the batticles.

    "Neat!" She exclaimed. The Brooklyn Bowlers had replaced the feet with propellers. With three legs, the batticles should have high mobility. "What is your underwater mod like? Can you show it to me in the future?"

    "Sure, I just have some jets on the shoes. They need 5 Mana Regeneration per minute just for normal movement. That means I have less MR/min to push into the rest of the batticle, which makes me weaker overall."

    ***************

    Bonus Objective: End the Reign of the Ship''s Kobold.

    ***************

    Flora tensed up when she saw the message. Still, she didn''t know what decision she should root for. "How are our chances of winning?"

    "Slim. The Brooklyn Bowlers have two units: Squad Tech with the three batticles, some drones and two mech-suit operators, and Squad Rogue. They can tackle two clams simultaneously. We have three units in our team, Team Light, that''s all the Radiance Practitioners: Robby, Hub, and Zapple, and Team Fire with Tigressa, Jelonso Emba, and BBQ Grillmaster and the rest who don''t have synergy. Additionally, Team Fire''s power is diminished because of the water." The signal to start the match interrupted Mia''s explanation.

    The players dove down to the ground. Immediately, Team Light and Too Biased split up and swam to the shipwreck.

    "There is no honor to choose the path of defeat even if the goal is golden," Flora said, then cringed about her own sentences. She was still not at her best. "Uhm, I mean, I approve of Robby''s decision. Getting the four bonus points is the sensible thing to do."

    Eddie chuckled. "I liked the first expression better." He cleared his throat, then raised his fists. "The fire of youth shall burn brightly even in the abyss of sure vanquishment!"

    Mia pretended to be in another room and deaf simultaneously. At least Flora interpreted her frozen figure staring unblinkingly at the screen this way.

    Squad Techno started on the first shell. As soon as Long3rd attacked it, three sharks zeroed in on him. As sharks went, they weren''t too bad¡ªjust your regular four-meter long monsters with too many teeth and a mean outlook at life.

    A second batticle, 9Pin King, joined Long3rd and sprayed the monsters with a greenish substance. While Squad Techno engaged the sharks, Mia configured the display. She had split the screen into four sections: One for the curated stream the system provided, one for Team Light, one for the rest of the Riverstones, and one empty. In the latter, Mia moved the camera around, scanning the underwater landscape.

    "I can''t find Squat Rogue." She said.

    "I bet they''ll appear right behind Team Fire," Eddie said. He was right. As the Riverstones closed in on Squad Techno, Squad Rogue counter ambushed them.

    Flora tore her eyes away from the fire and special effects festival that ensued and looked at Robby''s window. It shone lighter than a lamp store. All the Radiant Practitioners had their auras activated. Instead of the usual subtle gleam, their auras glowed full lighthouse. With all the light, the wreck''s narrow cabins didn''t seem spooky at all, not even when a translucent kobold in pirate gear appeared out of the rotting wood floor.

    Eddie cooed. "Can I adopt him?"

    "Humanoid mobs can''t be tamed, but there are instances where they have volunteered as companions," Mia said.

    "Flora and Mia, you are on my team! Where do I register for 10v10 PvP?" Eddie rubbed his hands, grinning like the mad man he was.

    "The feature will open when you get to level 100." Mia took the wind out of his sails, and Eddie sobbed.

    "We have to level up prontisimo! Rapido, rapido!"

    "We''ll get there, dear." Flora petted his hand.

    Meanwhile, Team Fire got their butts handed to them. First, Hoffie died, then Olivia. The rest fought on, but it wasn''t looking good.

    "Wow, so early, and we lost already 1/5 of our team," Flora said, concerned. "Is that the end?"

    "No, they''ll respawn after one minute," Mia explained to Flora''s relief.

    Team Fire managed to kill one of the rogues and now fought four versus four. Ressa and Norman were relatively healthy, but Ahoncartyr, Emba, and BBQ were down to 30% HP whereas the rogues had their full health.

    Just 100 meters away from them, Squad Techno captured their first pearl. They moved on to the next shells and another school of sharks.

    Flora was impressed by the underwater fighting. Magic and ranged attacks worked fine, but the melee fighter had to adapt their fighting style. Hoffi and Emba used their swords only to stab, and the rogues hugged their victims to get leverage out of their slices. Ahoncathyr had the most problems, but you couldn''t fault a cat for being bad at diving.

    In the next few minutes, the roles stayed the same: Team Light battled the kobold, Squad Techno collected pearls, Hoffi died a lot, and the rest of both teams fought each other. Then the kobold died. A tiny symbol appeared next to the HP Bars of all the Riverstones, accompanied by a red glow around their bodies.

    "Defeating the ship''s kobold gave our team a damage buff. It runs for five minutes."

    Flora pressed her thumbs for good luck.

    Robby and his companions swam to a closed clam and engaged the sharks.

    "Hmm¡­" Mia said.

    "What?"

    "We''ve got one point down; now we have to get three more. Best Healer, Tank, DPS, or MVP. I don''t know if competing in the clam race is the right way to do it." Mia shrugged. "Maybe it is? Damage against the sharks is counting, too."

    "What is an envy-pee?" Flora asked. The image in her head was disgusting, but it shouldn''t be possible with the disabled bladder. And why would the game reward people who peed themselves out of envy? Or maybe the player who receives this prize is so awesome that everybody else peed themselves in envy?

    "M-V-P. Most valued player." Mia said with a straight face, while Eddie nearly drowned laughing.

    "I was pretty close with my interpretation!"

 145 2.50 RSvBB â€“ 10v10 â€“ Part 2

    The Riverstones put up a valiant fight against the Brooklyn Bowlers, but it didn''t look like they had a chance of winning. With only five more minutes to go, the Bowlers had 11 pearls and the Riverstones only three. Fortunately, Flora''s clanmates weren''t going for the win.

    On the sidebar, the time ticked down. While the Riverstones exerted the maximum pressure, the Bowlers fought conservatively. They already had the win in their pockets and didn''t mind the Riverstones grinding their points on them. Not that they made it easy- not taking risks was the smart choice to secure their success.

    The game ended with 15 to 5 pearls, and the Bowlers cheered, whereas the Riverstones glared at the stats.

    Clan Riverstones vs. Brooklyn Bowlers: 9:13.

    "Nooooooo! We missed the mark by only one point!" Flora exclaimed.

    Mia opened the stats.

    The names of all the players stood in one column, their healing, damage, and protection as numerical values in three more, the next column displayed the match-points, and the last column had comments and little crowns.

    First, Mia sorted by damage. Zapple won this category, followed by Plaga Sobreti.

    "Isn''t he a healer?"

    "Not by choice."

    Hub won the tank category. The last point went to them because of the bonus mission.

    Robby and BBQ were high up in the healing category, but a Brooklyn Bowler defeated them. Most of the Riverstones placed well. The last eight places where only Brooklyn Bowlers, except for Ressa and Hoffi. Flora blamed the superior healing of the Riverstones for the loss. They probably left no wounds open for Robby to heal. Robby reached third place in the MVP category, following the team leader who collected all the pearls and Plaga.

    "What now?" Flora asked.

    "We''ll join the B-challenge tournament next week. Everything is open. We can even gain publicity and fans by doing well. While regular matches in the B-league only draw an audience of a few 100k, millions will watch the tournament." Mia said, unfazed. "Thank you for letting me join your watch party, Auntie. I''ll log into the Island for the post-match activities."

    "Sure thing, dear. Thanks for explaining stuff." Flora said. "Will you join the team for the tournament?"

    "It depends on how much I can grow my modded OV. Currently, I''ve got only 83 marbles for the BaPa from the kiddie-server, and they are all over the place. My native stats might be on par or even a bit higher than the average B-rated player, but they can''t compensate for that huge OV difference. Additionally, I have no tier 5 batticle."

    "Getting more of those nifty bonuses is on my agenda as well," Flora said. "My are AIs looking for ways to grow them, preferably with methods I can do in here. Can we exchange information on them?"

    "Aidan, filter them. I want to see only the ones I can do in here." Aidan complied, and the list was still several pages long. Flora looked at one randomly.

    \u003e\u003e\u003e

    Skilled-Endurance: Channel a skill for more than one hour.

    + 1 OV Mana Regeneration.

    \u003c\u003c\u003c

    "Seems easy," Flora said and looked at the next entries.

    \u003e\u003e\u003e

    Skilled-Quality: Activate ten skills perfectly in a row.

    + 1 OV Magical Macro-Control.

    Skilled-Quantity: Cast 3600 skills in one hour.

    + 1 OV Magical Macro-Control.

    \u003c\u003c\u003c

    Flora showed them the entries.

    "I''ve done Skilled-Quality, but for the others, I haven''t the concentration and mana." Mia smiled wrily. "They are harder than they look."

    "Yes, channeling one-hour-long might be quite the challenge to stay awake. I have to fight not to fall asleep!" Flora said with conviction, whereas Mia''s expression seemed a bit pained. "With the boxes'' help, it shouldn''t be any problem, though."

    "Unfortunately, you have to do it yourself, Milady. We''ve already done several of the challenges without getting an achievement." Aidan said.

    "Then what about using Radiant Practitioners? They would be able to generate enough mana and concentration for everyone." Flora said.

    "You are right. I will suggest it to the boss."

    Flora and Eddie said their goodbys and Mia vanished.

    Flora leaned back and increased the power of the massage jets.

    "What are your plans for the next few days?" Eddie asked her.

    "My brain boiled yesterday. I have to take it slow. Maybe a bit of training tomorrow. Do you want to do jiu-jitsu?"

    "Heaven, Flora, love! Take it slow! You won''t prove to Robby that you are a responsible senior citizen by overworking yourself." Eddie explained. "Time-dilation can''t be good for brain boiling. Maybe you log out and take a nice walk in the woods?"

    "You are probably right."

    Eddie raised his eyebrows.

    "You are absolutely right," Flora corrected herself. "The boxes will stop working on Thursday Two. I want to get the most out of them. I''ll be responsible and take it easy, but I will stay in time dilation just that bit longer."

    "I understand your point. Just don''t forget that your health is much more important than some stats. Promise?"

    "Promise," Mumbled Flora, scooting closer to Eddie and leaning her head on his shoulders. She wasn''t that needy in RL. Virtual Reality had unlocked her touchy-feely side or maybe shaved off some of the barriers she had erected, or it was one of the side-effects of her brain boiling. Yes, the last one had to be the cause.

    Flora''s eyes closed on their own volition, and soon a soft snore escaped her lips.

    "Oh, woman." Eddie sighed. When he looked down, he saw a string of drool making his way from Flora''s mouth to his chest. Involuntary, he chuckled but tried to do it quietly. After he put his arm around his friend, he closed his eyes as well.

    The ringing of her communication app woke Flora up.

    "Ma? Hey! Can Mia and the rest of squad 4-1 join you for the ''Skilled''-Achievements? The rest of us have already completed everything on which a Radiant Practitioner can support. I sent you the whole list."

    Flora yawned. "Sure, sweetie, schedule it with Aidan. Congratulation on a match well fought. You did the right call, going for the 4 points."

    "Oh, *bleep*. I don''t want to talk about it, but thanks." Robby sighed. "If you find any workarounds for other achievements, I''ll appreciate your input. Love you, and take it easy! We are used to losing, so no need for you to run yourself ragged to change it."

    "I don''t want to hear such defeatist statements from you, young man!" Flora snapped, now more awake. "You are talented, hard-working, and my son! You will develop your talents, work even harder, and prevail! Go, conquer yourself, and then the entire game!"

    "Aye aye, Ma!" Robby saluted her, then blew her a kiss before he hung up.

    Eddie had woken up, too. That disgusting old wheezer had drooled on her while sleeping, but Flora was too much of a lady to mention it, especially when a quick Clean took care of it easily.

    The two old friends chatted for a while about everything and nothing. Of course, Flora invited Eddie for the achievement marathon.

    While Aidan taught Eddie the spells he needed for it, Flora finally had the time to look at her Sweeping Blow Aptitude Test results.

    \u003e\u003e\u003e

    Thank you for participating in the Sweeping Blow Aptitude Test!

    Summary:

    Flowing Flowers excelled at using her magical attributes. We recommend a path that utilizes them.

    Considering that she had little experience with party play, she did an excellent job with all party-roles. We recommend a skill tree that lets her explore them more.

    Flowing Flowers showed trust in her companions and unparalleled skill in administering them, whereas her reaction time and battle-mastery are only very good. We recommend the companion playstyle over the hero playstyle.

    \u003c\u003c\u003c

    "If me communicating with potato-sack Golly or the elementals counts as ''unparalleled'', I pity the rest of the players," Flora mumbled.

    \u003e\u003e\u003e

    Recommended Skill Tree: Techno-Psychic.

    \u003c\u003c\u003c

    Flora stared at the single word. Just when she wanted to ask, a tree popped up. The recommendation had included all the classes she already had, minus the Champion. She hoped that it wasn''t a bad omen. New was the root class, Techno-Psychic, and a few elemental and warrior classes: Lightning Fist and Fist-Master, Lightning Shield, and Shield-Master, connecting them to Elemental Mage was a class called Lightning Guard.

    "What''s Lightning Guard, Aidan?"

    "The signature skill of the class allows the user to transform into an elemental. It''s a hero class, Milady. All your Mana-Regeneration is used for the transformation and forms a fifth pool. With that energy, you can enhance your elemental skills. I don''t understand why it''s in the tree when the Test discouraged you from using the hero-playstyle."

    "Maybe it''s not for me, but for my golem? Anyway, I like it and want it. Have you found a teacher for it?"

    "No, Milady. You have to do well in the elemental caverns to learn the signature skill, and all other skills don''t work without it. However, I scheduled teachers for all the other new classes in the tree and 10 hours of achievement hunting for tomorrow. I left enough time for naps."

    "Good work, Aidan."

    \u003e\u003e\u003e

    Hidden or challenge classes to enhance the tree: Elemental Knight, Heaven''s Tribulation Practitioner.

    \u003c\u003c\u003c

    "What do we know about them?"

    "For the Knight class, you have to win the daily Knight tournament. It''s focused on tanking and mounted fighting. Then you can just go to the Elemental Halls and get the advanced class. I have no concrete information about Heaven''s Tribulation Practitioner. The rumors say it''s a class that combines divine powers, light, and lightning. Radiant Practitioner may be a prerequisite. The Test was kind enough to give us a hint: ''Where heaven and earth meet awaits your quest to heaven''s path.'' Mount Rendezvous is often referred to this way."

    "Maybe I check it out with Robby on our mother-son date. Tell me about Techno-Psychic."

    "It''s a class to strengthen your personal AIs, Milady. Players use this class to connect to AIs if they don''t want to have nocks because of their metal handicap. Robby owns it and has agreed to teach it to you."

    Flora checked her schedule for tomorrow and Robby''s list of achievements. She tried to cram as many as possible in the 9 hours with Squad 4-1.

    Eddie yawned. "It was a long day. Can I crash here?"

    "Sure, Aidan will fetch you a bed."

    "We can share one." Eddie wiggled his eyebrows.

    "Get any of those thoughts out of your head, Mister!" While it was alright to do spa activities naked in German culture, sharing one bed was a different kind of toast. You can do the first without any type of harassment or flirtation, but the latter invited both.

    "What thoughts?" Eddie pretended to be innocent. "I would never have any inappropriate thoughts about my most prudish spinster friend! Except for that one time-"

    "We don''t speak about that one time." Mistrustfully, Flora glared at him. She donned her leisure suit and contemplated whether she should put her mech-suit on as well to put a few more layers between her and that man.

    "You are not thinking about wearing your mech-suit for bed, are you?" Eddie asked.

    Damn old friends! They know you too well!

    Eddie settled into her bed like he owned it, and Flora joined him reluctantly.

    "Good night, love."

    "Good night, dear," Flora said softly.

    "Can I get a good night kiss?"

    "No!"

    *farting beep*

    "Aito!"

 146 2.51 Training Montage

    "Thank you, Aidan." Robby ported into Flora''s bedroom.

    Two body shaped lumps cambered the blankets. Robby''s mind went blank. In his reality, there could be only a maximum of one person in his mother''s bed when he looked at it?Two when he was in it. The two bulges didn''t compute with his world view?even less so, the definitely male arm that lay on his mother''s hip.

    Robby paled. Could his mother have done that thing that mothers had to have done to get to be mothers, but no male offspring would ever acknowledge? No! His lack of father proved that he was the result of the virgin birth! His mother would never do those things out of her free will!

    He had to beat up the offender!

    "Die!" Robby roared and threw himself on the owner of the arm.

    "Burned Toast! Sweetie!" Flora exclaimed.

    --------------------

    Flora woke up with an unfamiliar weight on her flank. Did something fall into her bed while she had been sleeping? When she turned around and saw Eddie''s arm, her memories came back. Eddie had been a gentleman and stayed on his side of the bed. They went to sleep without further altercations. She didn''t fault him for spreading out a bit while sleeping. The half-hug didn''t feel too bad, so she turned around again and opened her virtual menus, making plans for the upcoming training.

    Suddenly, she heard Robby screaming, and then a 1.87 m black weight crashed into the mattress.

    "Burned Toast! Sweetie!" She rolled away from her thrashing son. "That''s Eddie, don''t kill him first thing in the morning! A bad wakeup can ruin one''s entire day."

    "Nobody touches my mother!" Robby roared.

    "Where is the attacker! I help you trounce him!" Eddie yelled from under Robby.

    "I''m touched, but I can defend myself. Okay, maybe not. But I can assure both of you that there is no attacker here."

    "I''m sorry, Uncle Eddie, but I have to beat you up," Robby said, much calmer but still not making any sense.

    "I understand, son. I will do my best to make it worse for you than me." Eddie said, getting Robby into a headlock.

    Flora was totally flummoxed. Her first instinct was to send lightning in their midst to burn some sense into them, but then she shrugged. That had to be one of those guy things, and they would have to sort it out by themselves. She didn''t even know who she was madder at, Eddie for hitting her dear sweetie or her son for misconducting himself.

    Ignoring the fight in her bed, Flora went to the training half of her bedroom and prepared for the day.

    --------------------

    "Please, Milady, reconsider! Think about your brain!" Aidan begged, and Flora sighed.

    "Now, we''ll set up a self-sustaining system. While I can''t do the achievements in the box, but I can generate the mana and other pool values there. Then I''ll spread them via the Divine Radiance aura to the others. We''ll add healing turret, repairing turrets and two golems with water healing spells for getting rid of the stacking burning or poisoned debuffs and dummies as targets."

    While Aidan fetched the necessary equipment, Flora browsed a book about Modifying Graphs or Morphs. The most suitable for her goals was one of the most common, more damage for more mana.

    Now and then, she glared at the still fighting men. At least, the propagation of her aura worked well enough; otherwise, their HP and stamina would have run out.

    "I''m the width of a toast away to electrify you," Flora said. "Please explain your behavior."

    The two men disentangled from each other. None of them had the grace to look guilty. On the opposite, they seemed pretty satisfied with their juvenile conduct.

    "No need to sweat it, Ma. We just caught up with each other, you know? Something like ''hey, how are you?'' ''I''m just spiffy!''." Robby grinned at her and slapped Eddie''s back. "You are still better at grappling, Uncle! I''ll admit that I have concentrated on striking-arts for the game, but I thought I would have closed the gap more."

    "You did pretty well, sweetie. In RL, I would have no chance, but that VR refreshed my old bones and muscles. And it was nice of you to stay mostly with jiu-jitsu. I know you could have caved my face in with your big fists." Eddie said, chuckling.

    The boys now complemented the other''s maneuvers as if they were best friends and not savages trying to kill each other two minutes ago.

    Flora rolled her eyes.

    --------------------

    "*bleep*, Ma! Could you please learn a bit slower! I need more time to bring up the new diagram than you learning it!"

    "Next skill, sweetie. Don''t twaddle. I want to take a nap before the squad comes." Flora didn''t tell him that she not only learned the skill but also integrated them into the corresponding commands and spells in her repertoire.

    Class:

    Techno-Psychic

    Branch:

    Technology/Magic

    Passive:

    Your AIs can level their skills and abilities above your Tier

    Active:

    Intuitive command over technology

    STA:

    Overcharge AI:

    Gives more stats to your AI

    AoE:

    Overcharge AIs:

    Gives more stats to your AIs

    DEF:

    Defend AI:

    Increases Hacking Resistance of your AI

    MOV:

    Hurry Up AI:

    Gives more processing power to your AI

    SIG:

    Establish Connection to AI:

    Connects to an AIssastant

    "Very nice!" Flora cheered. While she was intrigued by the active boon "Intuitive command over technology", she could immediately see the value of the passive boon. She had neglected the skills of her AIs when Aidan had told her that they couldn''t rise above level 25. Now that they could go higher, she ordered them to train. "Prioritize your anti-hacking abilities, dears. You are my most valued assets, and I don''t want you to be led astray."

    Robby had not only the spells for Techno-Psychic but also Fist-Master and Fire Fist.

    The class for Fist/Hammer-Master didn''t appear because she had to complete a quest for it, but at least she could level the skills in the meantime.

    STA:

    Crushing Blow

    Empowered Strike with a high chance to inflict a crushing debuff

    AoE:

    Hammer the Magic Down

    The next blow hits all targets in range. The closer to the origin, the harder they get hit.

    DEF:

    Hammered

    Every Blow increases Strength, Phys Reg and Vitality, reduces Phy Controls and Phy Perception

    MOV:

    Hammer-Charge

    Charge at the enemy

    SIG:

    Everything looks like a Nail

    (Boost) Adds an extra crushing secondary effect to all your skills and physical attacks

    Class:

    Magic Fist/Hammer

    Branch:

    Warrior/Magic

    Passive:

    + 1 Training efficiency modifier when Magic Enhancement is active

    Active:

    Reduces the metal handicap of bludgeoning and fist weapons

    STA:

    Crushing Magic Blow

    Element Empowered Strike with a high chance to inflict crushing debuff and magical effect

    AoE:

    Hammer Them Down

    The next blow hits all targets in range with physical damage and magical effect. The closer to the origin, the harder they get hit.

    DEF:

    Magically Hammered

    Every blow increases Power, Reg and Vigor, reduces Controls and Perception

    MOV:

    Magical Hammer-Charge

    Charge at the enemy

    SIG:

    Magic Enhancement

    Adds an extra magic secondary effect to your physical attacks

    "If you can mojo it to Light Fist, I would be thankful. I got it because I thought I''d find some synergy with my class, but it never happened. At the moment, I haven''t even slotted it into my tree." Robby said.

    Of course, Flora obliged.

    They tried it out on the training dummies. Whereas Robby was satisfied with the tiny light novas his strikes produced, Flora was of two-minds. Crushing Light Blow inflicted a debuff that lowered Physical Perception and produced a bit of radiation damage. No doubt that it was a good debuff, but Flora remembered what Mia said about synergy. The effect didn''t help Robby to heal better.

    "What would happen if I integrated the healing aspect of Light into the skill?" Flora mused and brought up the diagrams again.

    Her first attempt created the same damage output as the former Crushing Light Blow, but the secondary effect of the light produced a buff on herself instead of debuffing the enemy.

    Illuminated: 1x : + 1 OV to Perception, + 1 OV Projection and Mind-Control Resistance.

    "This could be useful," Robby stated, deep in thought. "Immensely, useful."

    Absentmindedly, Flora hummed. She wasn''t finished tinkering with the skill. For the next version, she had to rearrange some parts and needed a few minutes to make it work again. However, she was more than happy with the result. When her fist crashed into the dummy, the damage was a lot lower than before, but not only did she received the buff, but also got healed.

    "Ma! That''s genius! It''s like Mendicate! And it doesn''t share a CD with it! That''s a game-changer! Can you lower the CD?"

    Unfortunately, the new skill had 25 seconds cooldown, and Flora couldn''t tweak it.

    "Just imagine if you could change the skill of Elemental Power Strike and Shield Bash as well! That''s two more heals for the palas and Emba! Can you do it with ranged skills as well? Even Ressa could heal a bit with it. Wow, the possibilities are endless! I wonder what Zapple will say." Robby rambled.

    Flora followed him mentally but wasn''t convinced of the usefulness for other people than her radiant clan mates. They could not only heal themselves with it, but the effects also propagated to nearby allies. For everyone else, it was just a weak heal.

    "I''ll send the guys over to you to get the skills! Oh no, your brain! I send them later in the day. Can you do it, Ma?"

    "Sure, sweetie," Flora said. She wasn''t confident but didn''t have in her heart to deny her excited son. "Give me a few hours of sleep after the achievement-grind, and we are good to go."

    Robby left with a quick kiss.

    --------------------

    Finally, the squad four-one arrived.

    Flora knew Shari, a black woman with a motherly vibe and dimples, Gram, a gruff and stout white man, and of course Mia. Probably new was Dice Swifticle, but Flora wasn''t sure because he looked so much like Zapple that she had problems separating them. His hair was a lighter shade of blue, but otherwise, he had the same nervous energy around him as his brother. Last was a pink-haired girl in her twenties, Cherrya Boom.

    "Auntie, Auntie, Auntie! I need my roller skates!" Cherrya said for the third time.

    "Aidan is on it, dear. Be more patient." Flora considered for a split second if she should more patient as well, but then decided against it. "Or I kill you." Flora had enough of all the youthful exuberance. Her head throbbed again, and her bedroom was her domain.

    "Ooookay!" Cherrya''s eyes widened. "No need to aggro, it was just a question!"

    "No question three times repeated it just a question, dear. Instead, it''s a curse. Don''t curse me if you want to stay here."

    Flora clapped her hands to get everyone''s attention while Aidan sent out group invites. "Let''s get this party started!"

    With a lot of coaxing, Flora managed to get everyone on the hotplate, that''s the name she gave the square with fire runes. When she activated the runes, flames shot out of the floor, going chest high.

    "Owie! Owie! Owie!" Cherrya screamed.

    "Did you read the pamphlet I sent to you, dear? I underlined ''Set your pain to the lowest setting''," Flora said.

    "Hotplate is a *bleep*ing false advertisement. I''m standing in a *bleep*ing BBQ Grill!" Gram complained.

    "There was pamphlet?" Cherrya mumbled while adjusting her pain slider.

    "Yes, configure your body in the box to give you stamina, concentration, and mana. The turrets and golems will heal you, and you will get additional pool values from me as well, but do your best to keep up your pools on your own." Flora reiterated the key points. "In the bedroom, we will concentrate on the listed achievements. Try to get to the one hour mark and then judge for yourself if you can prevail until the four-hour mark. We have a bit over 8 hours together, so use them wisely. Please be a team player and don''t disturb the concentration of your neighbor."

    Flora thought she had to add some motivational stuff but drew a blank. "Go, go, Clan Riverstones!" She forced herself to say.

    Eddie clapped and repeated it, and the others joined in.

    Relieved, Flora sat down. Although the flames fully engulfed her, the heat wasn''t worse than in a sauna. She cleared her mind and regulated her breathing. First, she cast the Toxic Beam on the nearby training dummy. The jet originated from her headgear, a tiara with an inlaid focus. When she felt confidant that the spell flowed perfectly, she cast Thorn Cannon with both hands. The small spikes pelted the dummy, and the debuffs ranked up.

    Flora took another deep breath while casting the next dual Thorn Cannon. "Good start, four hours to go."

    Around her, the Riverstones started their rotations as well. The light from the fire, the lasers of the turrets, and the Healing Rain from the golems mixed as flashing clouds grew over their heads. The whirling motor of Mia''s drone and muffled drums from Cherrya''s headphones mixed with the sounds of the skills. Flora felt like during a 20-century carnival before they tightened the security. She forced herself to just focus on her dummy and her spells.

    "*bleep*, this is impossible." Gram cursed when his channeled Holy Presence snapped.

    Flora didn''t react. Although they undertook the achievement hunt together, the success didn''t depend on their teammates. Everybody had to find the strength to complete four hours of casting in themselves.

 147 2.52 Achievement Hun

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    Flames licked on Flora. The heat distorted the air, and steam clouded it.

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    Most of the Healing Rain droplets evaporated before they hit the fire, much less Flora, who sat in it.

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    Lightning arced from Mia''s drone, right next to Flora.

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    *boom boom boom boom* Deep drums banged out electronic rhythms.

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    They originated from Cherrya''s headphones. The girl did pirouettes on her roller skates right next to Flora. ''Look away, ignore her.''

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw laser beams converging on her. ''Nothing to see; concentrate on your spells. They are just healing me.''

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    ¡­

    Flora''s focus narrowed down until only her breath, the training dummy, and three spells were left. Like a machine, she spat out a Thorn Cannon every two seconds while never stopping to channel Toxic Beam. The repetition etched the spell diagrams into Flora''s mind. Before the training, she knew the charts like someone knew the painting on their dinner room wall. She could describe how much of what was where. However, now, she knew the diagrams as if she had painted them herself. As she loaded them with her magic, again and again, the process grew smoother. Before she filled in the channel system and watched it flow, now she could guide the flow through the channels.

    "You have reached the one hour mark, Milady. Do you want to see the achievements?"

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    "Yes." Flora had no resources to ponder the question. She had sent the affirmation to Aidan out of a subconscious desire to know if the exertion was worth it. A thought swam into her consciousness of whether it was the wrong decision. Would she lose concentration because of her curiosity? She suppressed it.

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    You gained an Achievement: Concentrated: Use 10k concentration in one hour. Reward: + 1 OV Magical Macro-Control

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    You gained an Achievement: Magically Tenacious: Survive 250k magical damage in one hour. Reward: + 1 OV Magical Defense

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    You gained an Achievement: Physically Tenacious: Survive 250k physical damage in one hour. Reward: + 1 OV Physical Defense

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    You gained an Achievement: Skilled-Effect: Produce 250k damage, healing, or protection in one hour. Reward: + 1 OV Magical Power

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    You gained an Achievement: Skilled-Endurance: Channel a skill for more than one hour. Reward: + 1 OV Mana Reg

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    You gained an Achievement: Skilled-Quantity: Cast 3600 skills in one hour. Reward: + 1 OV Magical Macro-Control

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    "Very good," Flora said. "Give me an overview of how the group is doing."

    "Mia has received the same achievements as you. Shari, Cherrya, Eddie, and Dice didn''t try the Skilled-Endurance, only the Skilled-Quantity, and were successful. Additionally, Dice obtained the Stamina achievement. Gram is just channeling, and currently on his third and best attempt with 34 minutes."

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    "Very good." Flora sank back into a state where only her spells mattered.

    In the subsequent phase, casting grew more difficult. ''If I never cast another Thorn Cannon in my life, it would be still too soon.'' The monotony numbed Flora''s spirit, and her creativity complained. She wanted to create! To enhance! To modify! However, she was too cautious. ''Don''t risk the hours you have already accumulated. If you fail, you have to start from the beginning again.'' She thought like a mantra between jugging out Thorn Cannons. ''Maybe just a tad sharper angle on the section 3 f: 2x + y^2 \u003c 5000 component.''

    When her channeled Toxic Beam started to waver, she decided to take the risk. She needed her mind inside herself to continue the challenge; being bored out of it could only lead to failure.

    The small adjustment worked well, and Flora sank happily back into the meditative casting of the spells.

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    ¡­

    A while later, her boredom flared up again. ''It would be only a tiny adjustment to the morph?I bet I could get a bit more oomph if I would move the link to the diagram from the tangent of the peak -3x^2 to the 2x^3 saddle.''

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    ''Resist!'' From the back, Flora heard Gram cursing again?just the reminder she needed to refocus.

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    However, the thoughts come back after a while. ''Alright! I try it.''

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    The tiny barbs smashed into the dummy, and Flora was nearly sure that they grew a bit bigger. Thankfully, finding out whether the size had changed entertained her for several minutes.

    The dread of the mindless activity grew again until it was unbearable for Flora.

    "Aidan, report to me when I have reached the damage achievements. I have to change spells; I''m going bonkers!" Flora had cast only the wood bolts because the stacking poison debuffs provided the damage numbers she otherwise couldn''t reach because of her low level.

    With the end of her torment in sight, Flora''s concentration improved.

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    ¡­

    ''Aidan will say something soon.''

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    ''Any time now.''

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    "AAAAIIIIDDDDAAAN!"

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    "Milady?"

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    "How soon?"

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    "Approximately 5 minutes, Milady."

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    ''I can do it.''

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    ''No, I can''t.''

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    ''Yes, I can.''

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    ¡­

    Frogger appeared in her bedroom and stared wide-eyed at the hellish place Flora had set up for training.

    Between Thorn Cannons, Flora waved him closer and shuffled to Cherrya to give him space to settle down.

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    An army of frogs joined the hunt. One sat on Froggers lap and shot his tongue at the target, and hundreds of fist-sized amphibia crawled across Mia''s, Frogger''s, and Flora''s dummies like divine punishment.

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cThorn Cannon\u003e

    ¡­

    "You have reached the damage achievement, Milady. Do you want to see it?"

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cBless and Condemn\u003e

    ''Oh, the bliss.''

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cLightning Bolt\u003e

    "No, thanks, dear." Desperately, Flora wanted to ask how much longer until the four hours were up, but she didn''t trust herself not to despair. She switched over to casting Smite because she was very familiar with elemental spells, whereas the divine branch''s diagrams held more secrets.

    (Right hand and left hand:) \u003cSmite\u003e

    ¡­

    Finally, Aidan said the magical words: "You have received all the achievements on the list, Milady."

    "I thank my family, my cast and crew, and all the toasters in the world! I couldn''t have done it without you!" Flora released all her spells and just sat there, in the towering flames. Slowly, the tension faded with every breath she took. Closing her eyes, she just basked in the moment.

    After some time, she started feeling the magic around her. Frogger''s was fresh like spring and at the same time more stable and confident than she''d had given the green-haired teen credit for. Mia''s felt precise and cold, not the same way as Dice''s, who used ice spells, but in the way, metal cooled your touch. Eddie emanated waves; sometimes they playfully splashed, and sometimes, Flora could sense the deepness of the ocean beneath them.

    As Flora perceived her surroundings, the mana in her body started to rotate. She had set Mana Cultivation on auto-mode for the body in Deriga''s Workshop. Apparently, the system had interpreted her musings as an impetus to start the cultivation of this body, as well.

    "I''ll cultivate mana here, Aidan. Get my body in Deriga''s workshop climbing again."

    In addition to the external impressions, Flora felt the mana inside her rotate and move through her body. Her mana depot under her navel was in a strange state. It was full, then a tiny bit of mana vanished, and more wanted to flood the core. It took a while until Flora had pieced together what was happening. Her body in the box cast Righteous Strike and needed 10 mana for it, but the strike produced mana, so it went right back in her core?even more than the area could hold. The rest of the energy rebounded and diffused.

    ''Little magic core, are you happy to be full for once?'' Flora thought whimsically. She couldn''t even remember the last time when her core had been this full. Maybe when she had done the Damage Over Time-Test, she usually used every drop of mana even in her sleep.

    Flora concentrated on the area. First, she tried to visualize it growing and forcing it into reality. Her stomach bulged; otherwise, it had no effect. She went back to listening carefully for the sensations that the returning magic provoked. Only when she had identified the pressure on her core, she emulated it again and pressed as well.

    While Flora was occupied with manipulating her core, the mana that had circulated through her magical channels had returned to it. Now, it tried to rejoin the mana in her center, but the place was full to the brink. Still, the mana entered, and the feeling of pressure increased for a moment before the core adjusted.

    Flora grinned. So the cultivated mana was accepted by her picky core but not the excess mana from Righteous Strike? Let''s cultivate the surplus! When the next round of energy started, Flora mentally picked up all the rejected mana outside her core and sent it after the auto-mode. Half of it diffused on the spot, the other half when she rejoiced about her success and lost concentration over it.

    ''Again!''

    During the next hours, Flora toyed with her magic and honed her magic perception. While there was no need for her to continue sitting on the hotplate, she enjoyed feeling the energies around her. Just playing around was precisely the right occupation after the prolonged phase of focusing.

    Flora also looked over her new achievements. Today she received Physical Vigor +2, Physical Defense +2, Magical Power +2, Magical Macro-Control +4, Magical Micro-Control +2, Magical Vigor +2, Magical Regeneration +4, Magical Defense +2. At least, she would have received those bonuses if she hadn''t maxed out her Magical MaC and Mana-Reg. Instead, she had obtained three of those strange marbles, which she couldn''t use until she would unlock the BaPa.

    "Are we sure that I can''t use the marbles until level 100?" Flora asked her AIs.

    *beep beep*

    "There are rumors that something might happen if you collect more than 100 + OV achievements before reaching level 100. There are screenshots of unlocking another + 5 bonus row and screenshots where it didn''t happen. Maybe you need some special achievements?"

    "Oh, well. We will max out the + 5 for everything, and then we''ll see how it goes."

    Flora looked at the MOD column of her character sheet. Currently, she had only 39 points and 3 marbles, so there was a long way to go. When her eyes glanced over the first column, she grinned. Her attribute levels were looking great!

    "Aidan! Aidan! Everything but the Perceptions is over 100! And even those rose like crazy! How did that happen?" Flora rambled.

    "Since you last checked, you spent nearly 100 hours in your bedroom, Milady, and additional 40 hours outside. That''s around 140 hours of attribute training. The Perceptions leveled because of the projection rune-schemes. They trained you sensing the shadow attackers."

    When Flora inspected the affinities, she discovered enormous growth. Psychokinesis and Faith had broken through level 100. Next, she went over the spells. Of course, they rose ridiculously, but she wondered where the gains in Refining and Magical Rain came from. She couldn''t remember using them during the time, and Aidan had the orders to stop leveling damage skills above level 50.

    "It seems you get skill-experience from the golems, Milady, albeit at a reduced rate."

    Flora gaped. "That is an Administrator visit waiting to happen!"

    "I just researched it and highly doubt it. Those changes were implemented because the Animators complained. They argued that they were disadvantaged compared to other pet classes. So, every time you dispel a golem, you will get a part of their gained experience. The exact factor is under dispute, but it seems to be for skills around 1/3, for affinities and abilities 1/5, but unfortunately, no attribute experience."

    "That''s awesome enough. Nonetheless, we have wasted 150 hours!" Flora instructed the two golems, who took turns raining on the achievement hunters, to punch the target dummies. "Try to convince your dummies on the outside to cast the spells we want to get to level 200. Oh, and level Defend AI to 200."

 148 2.52 Bonus-Material

    Shiny Frenemy to Flowing Flowers: "Mind if I lean my back against yours?"

    Flowing Flowers to Shiny Frenemy: "Good idea! Maybe I can even take a nap with my back supported. Albeit, I''m currently working on my Magical Perception, so I don''t know whether I can control my snooping range to exclude you."

    At the same time, Flora received Eddie''s "I don''t mind, love." she felt his back on hers.

    Then she sensed a huge amount of energy leaving Eddie''s buttocks¡­ and it didn''t stop.

    First, Flora wanted to ask her friend what he was doing, but she didn''t want to disturb his channeling.

    "Aidan, do you know which skill Eddie is using? Don''t tell me; I want to guess."

    "Yes, Milady. The combat log lists all spells of the party."

    "Great, let''s play Hot or Cold. I''ll make a conjecture, and you''ll say how close to the truth it is via the temperature." Flora wanted to clear her mind of any ridiculous thoughts, so she said: "Eddie is channeling Mega Fart!"

    "Hot, Milady."

    "Really?" Flora laughed. "Ha, on the right track with the first try! I hope it doesn''t stink." At the moment, Flora only smelt burned hair and fabric.

    "You have guessed wrong, Milady. You are sitting in the fire, so my answer would always be ''Hot''. Maybe I have misunderstood the game?"

    "Oh, dear." Flora laughed harder but tried not to shake too much. "Hot is pretty close to the truth. Warm means that the direction of the guess is right, while cold means it''s off. You may use cool for in between. The game uses temperature as an indicator of how close my call is."

    "That makes more sense, Milady. Cold."

    Flora nodded and concentrated on the energy below Eddie''s butt. The magic jittered between Eddie and the hotplate. "So it''s nothing that purely affects the floor. It interacts with Eddie."

    "Hot, Milady."

    "Maybe he gets something from the flame rune-scheme?" Flora analyzed the energy, but it didn''t seem to be elemental. She wouldn''t even say that it was a spell.

    "Cold, Milady."

    Concentrating on the nature of the magic, Flora eliminated prayers and charms, as well.

    "Is it a technique, an art, or a trick?" She listed the most likely candidates and narrowed it down with Aidan''s feedback to a skill of the Trick branch. However, the knowledge didn''t get her closer to the function of the skill. "I''d always knew he was a tricky bum, no wonder he has one!" Flora mumbled. "Maybe I should determine the area of expertise. That would narrow down the applications. Has it something to do with acting or the entertainment industry?"

    "Cold, Milady."

    "Sailing or pirates?"

    "Hot, Milady."

    "Coolish, maybe luke-warm."

    "Oh, I didn''t expect that. Do people mainly channel it through their butt or feet?"

    "Warm, Milady."

    "So what use could a skill interacting between user and surface bring to a sailor or pirate?" Flora mused. "Water walking?"

    "Cold."

    Flora returned to analyzing the energy. It was exceptionally stable for a channeled skill. For comparison, Flora directed a Kinetic Beam to the nearest dummy. The dummy vibrated under the force of the spell, and some of the Frogs fell off. Flora raised her eyebrows.

    The test gave her several new avenues of inquiry. Her primary reason for channeling was to compare the stability of the channeled energies, and while Flora judged her beam as very stable, Eddie''s skill was even more so. The second revelation was that Eddie''s power was psychokinetic. She should have noticed it sooner, but she had assumed it was a byproduct because of the energies'' movement.

    The falling frogs gave her another clue? or more an inspiration. When she saw them tumbling down, her first thought had been: ''Wouldn''t it be nifty to have sticky feet?''

    "Sticky Butt! It''s a skill to stick to a surface, right? Sailors could use it to resist stumbling when the ship swerves in high waves!"

    "You guessed right, Milady. The name is Sea Legs. Sailors use it as you have deducted but mainly for sleeping through storms."

    "That also explains the immense stability of the channeling. If the skill has to be active while sleeping, it has to be very easy to uphold. Eddie lucked out for this challenge."

    "Yes, Milady. He morphed the skill to be several multitudes more costly, but it is one of the most suited skills for the challenge that I have come across."

    --------------------

    Bonus-Scene: Aito wants Romance

    Aito''s human was a hard case regarding romance. Of course, Aito wouldn''t give up, but what she learned so far discouraged her from trying the obvious romance tactics. It was more of a long term project.

    Now that she had two prime subjects in the most suitable age-range to experiment with, Flora''s romance could wait.

    In the Cetvivos Forum, Little Immortal had started a betting pool how long it would take for Mia and Frogger to hook up. It was a poorly executed plan for revenge because his own betting pool had the highest odds of never getting together with Kitty. Nonetheless, the gambling addicts still gave the two introverts a higher probability of finding love than the Mini-Master Star.

    Aito hadn''t set a wager yet, but she was rooting for as soon and as romantic as possible. With both of them here, she had the chance to influence the situation. What would be the most fitting way to fall in love? She couldn''t lock Mia and Frogger in an elevator. What a pity.

    The stupid humans abolished the custom that when a man and a woman are alone in a room, they had to marry. So getting rid of the other participants wouldn''t be necessary. What a stupid thing to patch! The romance was so much easier accomplished when forced marriages were a thing. They should reinstall that custom!

    Fortunately, her more recent literature showed that now people of the same sex could romance each other. That increased the chance for love manifold! And it returned a bit of trust into humanity''s intellect to Aito. Albeit she wasn''t sure of the rules involved, she only knew, a female and male hooking up was called heterosexuality. Against all reason, that was a popular sexuality.

    When a person chose to date males and females, they were called bisexual, but Aito just called them sensible. Some pan-sexual people dated everybody, probably only humans, vampires, demons, and demi-humans, but she wasn''t sure. Somehow something named "gender" played a role, but she hadn''t figured the concept out. She categorized them as "very sensible but confusing".

    Last and definitely least, the most irrational category, homosexuals. They would only date people of the same sex, so not only they neglected half of the population, but also the sensible portion of the population was as tiny as you expected from humans. Hence, their dating pool was even smaller than 50%. Who would want that?

    Aito wouldn''t even dare to think about the one book that mentioned someone asexual. Surely, that was an invention of the author; nobody would be that obstinate, right?

    Because Mia was very sensible, she had to be at least bisexual if not pan. Frogger seemed to be a human with potential, so he had to be at least bisexual as well. Therefore they had to be compatible. Although she knew that age played a role in partnerships, the rules were even more confusing. At the moment, she was going with the hypothesis that the couple had to be at least 18 years old, and the age difference had to be smaller than 15 years or more than 100 years. So, she hoped that the age fit as well.

    What exactly could she do¡­ Locking them up, forcing them into marriage, or a fake relationship were out. Maybe a prophecy? No, she would have to contact one of her old colleagues for that. Getting one of them abducted? She could log into an Octopussy and steal a body of the box and stash it somewhere. However, she couldn''t leave the premise without her human, so finding a good hiding place was impossible. The search wouldn''t be a proper quest, and Haidan would probably snitch. Nonetheless, she saved the idea as Plan B.

    Aito had to go with the simplest of plans: Tripping them to "fall" in love.

    After logging into the Octopussy in the bedroom, she crouched behind the healing turret. At the moment, both of her targets were sitting, but she was ready!

    Finally, Mia stood up. Aito dashed out of her cover, gripped her ankle, and pulled. The surprised girl lost her balance and crashed into Frogger. Wonderful! The druid toppled over and landed on the napping Cherrya! Even more splendid! Love-Triangle alert!

    Aito set all her sensors to the maximum. Would they blush?

    "What are you doing, little robot? Is Auntie Flora all right?" Mia asked, without any discoloration. Frogger never stopped casting. Cherrya even slept throughout the entire incident, just mumbling, "Flee, when the janitor auntie comes."

    Aito deflated and displayed teardrops on the Octopussy''s skin.

    *farting beep*

    No, she shouldn''t be too greedy. Hoping for success or even a love-triangle on her first try was probably too much. On the other hand, one should aim high! Her next plan would succeed, but she should wait a while before implementing it. The humans wouldn''t know what was going to hit them! Romance had to be happening!

    --------------------

    Results of the achievement hunt after 9 hours:

    Flora: 14 achievements.

    Mia: 13 achievements.

    Frogger and Dice: 12 achievements.

    Eddie: 11 achievements.

    Shari and Gram: 8 achievements.

    Cherrya: 6 achievements.

 149 2.53 New Ride

    Now and then, she jotted down notes on her new robot?virtually of course, the flames from the hotplate would incinerate paper in a matter of seconds. Initially, she wanted to base her future mount on the Hungry Chest. However, most of her previous adventures took place in sewage systems or the narrow corridors of the Doom Moon. The 3x3x3 meter robot vehicle was too big. Nonetheless, she wanted to have her robots with her in case of a surprise attack (1), so she needed the space to transport them as well.

    Must have:

    - Enough space for me, 1-2 octopussy, 1-2 Gollies, 1-2 turrets

    - Able to be stored in my inventory (max 3x3x3 meters)

    - Navigate most of the possible terrains: city, forest, caves

    - High defense

    - A bit of offense

    Nice to have:

    - Speed

    - Flying or at least hovering or swimming

    - Underwater capabilities

    - Fighting capabilities

    - Self-repair feature

    - Low mana-reg per min, or at least high utility for the cost

    - It should be a toaster or at least a home appliance for the Church of Evailyn bonus

    Flora stared at her list. There was a solution. "Let''s build a transformer!"

    While Flora was excited, more and more of her companions dropped out of the race. Only Frogger, who started later, still flung magic like a possessed man. Mia, Eddie, and Shari continued channeling but did nothing else. Gram changed his strategy every few minutes and mixed channeling and casting spells interspaced by cursing. Dice hugged his dummy; now and then, he managed to conjure the power for one more hit. Cherrya had abandoned all visible activities and seemed to be reading.

    Flowing Flowers to Shiny Frenemy: "I have to go! Now! To build a Killer-Robot-Transformer-Bike! Prepare for your back-rest to vanish!"

    Shiny Frenemy to Flowing Flowers: "Haha, I''m used to you giving me the cold shoulder. I will survive a cold back, too."

    Flowing Flowers to Shiny Frenemy: "As a warm brother, your back never gets cold."(2)

    Shiny Frenemy to Flowing Flowers: "Zing! Homophobic Flora strikes again!"

    Flora rolled her eyes but let him have the last word. There were more important things to do than verbal sparring, namely killer-robots to build! She logged out of her bedroom and landed in the Rat Climb in Deriga''s workshop. Immediately, she dashed to the drawing board and started sketching.

    The propellers could be used to hover and for water movement too?if she added a rubber ring around them as wheels.

    In fight mode, the propellers would prop up the cabins, and she had a 3-meter murder robot! Alright, the connections between the capsules and the cabins and the propellers had to be hardy. She wanted a maximum of moveability and security. Probably, impossible. But what if only one cabin moved vertical and the other stayed horizontal, like an erected caterpillar? If she added enough blenders, sorry propellers, it could still hurt the enemies but had fewer weak spots.

    Flora fell in love with the tiny model she created, but then she remembered that she had to check the Mana-Regeneration cost before making any decisions.

    When Flora scanned at the selection of similar-sized flight-capable vehicles in the marketplace, she felt like crying. 58 MR/min, 64 MR/min ¡­ the cheapest she found was 50 MR/min, but it looked as if it would fall apart with one sneeze. She only had 35 MR/min! And she needed Mana Reg for her weapons, mech-suit, and emotional-support octopus!

    Flora scoured the forum for a MR/min per kg ratio of flying crafts. She found a guy who bragged that he managed to power his 47 kg drone with only 5 MR/min.

    "One Flora in a mech-suit, 150kg, one Octopussy 30kg, one Golly 50 kg, one Killer-Blender ¡­ hmm with all the propellers at least 200 kg ¡­ let''s say 450 kg overall ¡­ 45 MR/min. Burned Toast and stale jam! Okay, I can''t pay for the gadgets if I have to spend so much on the ride. Wait! What if I let the golly power the ride?" Flora bounced up and down. "Aidan, how much MR/min for a Golly who can use establish a connection to feed the Killer-Blender?"

    "21 MR/min, Milady. However, I studied the patch notes, and there will be changes to the mana requirement for golems and robots, Milady."

    "So, they will change the boxes, golems, and robots. Maybe I''m overly sensitive, but I''m feeling targeted. If they ban toasters, I stop playing! Retirement Home yes or no. I board a cruise ship and spend the rest of my life on a toilet with diarrhea!"

    "Please don''t leave us, Milady. The patch contains hundreds of changes. No toasters were mentioned in the entire document. There might be a few more issues that you could interpret as damming the flow of flowers, but we should wait and see."

    "Hehe, ''damning the flow of flowers'' that passage alone made the information sweeter." Flora waved. "I''m just doing my duty as German, complaining until the end. I''m still having fun, even with faulty patch notes without toasters. Okay, these notes are probably the only thing in the world, which is better without toasters than with them!"

    Flora looked around. "Where were we?"

    "The golem would currently need 21 MR/min to power a 45 MR/min vehicle, Milady."

    "Excellent! Let''s ask the System about the changes." Flora went over the question in her head and then said: "System-Request: Please give me the MR/min value, my golem needs to power an A-rated 450 kg flying vehicle with my current stats or if they change as well¡­ burned toast! My stats won''t change, right? Now, I messed up the request!"

    ***************

    42 MR/min, and your stats will change.

    This answer cost two requests because the two questions weren''t sufficiently connected.

    ***************

    "Say something epic again. I''m sad." Flora whispered.

    "With the toaster''s might, we will burn down any dams that prevent the flow of the flowers!" An unfamiliar female voice belted out.

    "Aito, was that you?"

    After a short pause, a meek *beep* sounded.

    "Truly epic sentence, dear! What a blast! We''ll get an oversized bumper-sticker with it! Not that I will add a bumper for the Killer-Blender¡­ we spray it directly on the body!"

    Flora didn''t want to make a big deal out of it, but that Aito spoke her first sentence outweighed any paltry patches on her scale.

    "System-Request: How much MR/min can the Golem support with Establish Connection when I cast him with 20 MR/min."

    ***************

    29 MR/min

    ***************

    "The conversion rate is even better. If I add 16 mana generators to the ride, we''ll have the 45 MR/min. Great, and thank you, I don''t want to know if that is still possible!" Flora paused. "Can I add 16? If the diameter is 1.2m, it''s probably too slim for generators. In three meters, I can place 4, 4 additional on the other side. The eight generators perpendicular to them are the problem. How much diameter do I need? The diagonal of a 1x1 square¡­ Hello Pythagoras, old friend! Long time no see! You may have calculated the height of a pyramid from its shadow, but I have built one! Ah, that brag felt good. Or was Thales the pyramid guy? Whatever! So 1^2 + 1^2, that''s two, and its square root is a too fat ride. Nevermind! We''ll find a way!"

    *beep!*

    "Yes, Milady!"

    "Aito, start mixing tier 1 materials with the fusion box. The lighter, the better. Prioritize mats with good resistance against ranged weapons and able to withstand high speed for the body. Maybe hemp and plastique, a bit of Kevlar¡­ that kind of thing. What do we do for the propellers? They have to be able to make smoothies out of monsters¡­ maybe bone?"

    Flora gave Aito a 10k budget for mats and returned to her model. She added the generators'' placement, but the more she worked on the project, the more she realized that she was in over her head. She had forgotten everything about aerodynamics she might have learned in university and never worked with flying home appliances until she made the Dragonfly toaster. So, she bought a few blueprints of promising air busses and analyzed them.

    Because there was no need to read in Deriga''s crowded workshop, she logged back into her bedroom. Squad Four-One was gone, but Eddie remained, sitting in her jacuzzi and watching video clips about sailing. She convinced him to look for ship construction and propulsion videos, and he happily agreed.

    To her astonishment, Eddie was versed in the basics of nautic engineering.

    "You can''t be the best rider if you know nothing about horses, love," Eddie explained to her, and it made sense. Flora had taken a few cooking and baking classes just to construct better home appliances.

    The oldies watched ships with shiny screws and interchanged opinions about them until Aidan reminded Flora that her first skill teacher, Jelonso Emba, was expecting her on Riverstones Island.

    ------------------------------

    Jelonso was part of Ressa''s Squad Two-One and part of her 3v3 PvP team, named Team Fire. He styled his brown hair in a fashion reminiscent of an early 2000 Superman and had colored a strand orange. His chiseled chin reinforced the look.

    Although Jelonso was polite, he wasn''t warm. Flora didn''t mind. She was here to learn spells, not to make friends. Emba provided them in exchange for her "Healing Fire" version of them.

    Class:

    Magic Shield

    Branch:

    Warrior/Magic

    Passive

    + 1 Training efficiency modifier when Magic Enhancement is active

    Active

    Reduces the Metalhandicap of shields

    STA:

    Magical charged Shield Bash:

    High aggro and chance to interrupt casting.

    AoE:

    Magical charged Shield Cyclone:

    Creates [magical charged] shields between every enemy and every group member.

    DEF:

    Magical charged Shield Wall:

    Creates [magical charged] barrier in front of the caster

    MOV:

    Magical charged Battering Ram:

    Charge with your [magical charged] shield at your enemy.

    SIG:

    Magic Enhancement:

    (Boost) Adds an extra magic secondary effect to your physical attacks

    The Healing Flame Shield Cyclone turned out especially nice. When an enemy hit one of the little floating shields that protected the caster''s party, it not only protected them but also healed them a bit.''

    Flora''s stay on the Island didn''t go unnoticed by the rest of the PVP team. Hub joined the session to learn Light Shield and gave her the Light Sword class for modifying into a healing version. At the same time, Zapple watched them with envy. He was using a scepter.

    "Why is there no Scepter-Master class? I feel discriminated against! I''d love to have Healing Light Scepter skills!" He whined, and BBQ agreed with him whole-heartedly. There wasn''t a specialist class for foci either.

    "What kind of skill would such a class provide? The STA and AOE skill would basically be just a normal bolt or rain, right?" Flora mused. She wasn''t sure and vowed to think about it.

    Class:

    Magic Sword

    Branch:

    Warrior/Magic

    Passive:

    + 1 Training efficiency modifier when Magic Enhancement is active

    Active:

    Reduces the Metalhandicap of swords

    STA:

    [Magical Charged] Sword Light:

    A magic-empowered Strike or Thrust. The magic effects reach farther than the physical sword.

    AoE:

    [Magical Charged] Sweep:

    A magic-empowered Sweep. The magic effects reach farther than the physical sword.

    DEF:

    [Magical Charged] Parry:

    Parry the next skill or spell, reduced its primary and secondary effect

    MOV:

    [Magical Charged] Sword Charge:

    Charge at the enemy

    SIG:

    Magic Enhancement:

    (Boost) Adds an extra magic secondary effect to your physical attacks

    The passive boons of all her magical-weapon classes didn''t stack to Flora''s disappointment. However, she appreciated getting the metal handicap reduced for all her weapons.

    (1) The inventory is locked during combat.

    (2) Warm Brother = Warmer Bruder = German slang for a gay man. It''s not derogatory but used by people who don''t dare to say the word gay.

 150 2.54 Homebody

    Flora filled her time with a mixture of pleasurable things, useful things, and pleasurable and useful things.

    First, she had to solve the household robotics quest for Evailyn. The time-limit was nearly up.

    Despite planning on getting the "home appliance" type for her Killer-Blender, she wanted to soften the system before pushing the borders.

    Flora created a robot-arms addon for cleaning cabinets. They could load and unload the cabinet, sort dishes by type, and fold laundry. One could add them to most cleaning cabinets with a spanner mechanism, either on top for front loaders or vertical for top loaders.

    Next, she built a household staple of the 21 century, the vacuum cleaner robot. It was basically a little can that scurried around and sucked dirt. Whereas her Cleaning Cabinet Loader had the type "Hybrid: Robot/Home Appliance", the Vacuum Cleaner Robot 2050 had only "Home Appliance" as a designation.

    Last but not least, Flora recreated Robby''s School-Breakfast Robot, in a fancier version, of course: A cooling box to the right, a toaster to the left, and a teenage ninja turtle lunchbox and robot arms in the middle. When activated, the arms put any toast shaped items in the cooler in the toaster, any apple or juice shaped items directly in the lunchbox, and cheese, sausages, or spreads on the finished toast. The original version had problems with spreads. It had regularly applied the butter on top of the marmalade. The Cetviwos version didn''t have this issue, thanks to Aidan''s and Aito''s superior programming abilities.

    Quest completed: Household Robotics (Church of Evailyn)

    Description: Build three household robots.

    Rewards:

    - +1 level Faith

    - +1 Reputation

    - Crafting XP (Mechanics, Electronics, Runecraft)

    Difficulty: C

    Time: 2.1 of 3 days

    Rating: S

    Although Flora''s printers were still busy printing training boxes and multi-tool scepters, she let them build two exemplars of the robot. One went to Robby, and one produced toasts for her shop. She bought a variety of spreads and bread from the AH to test them out. Of course, she included every type of bread her neighbor Bakery Gottfriedl offered.

    Building a rune-suit was another crafting project. Flora learned much about the game mechanics of armor suits. The most fantasy version was called runic armor, basically body armor with rune schemes to enhance them. The goal of every paladin, knight, or heavy warrior was to own such protection. The armor had a fixed cost of MR/min. The few models, in which you could push more Mana-Reg, didn''t improve their overall armor rating, but only the runes'' effect. Flora wasn''t interested in building one of those.

    A rune-suit was a mech-suit with no electronics and no motors. However, it functioned like a mech-suit, supporting your movement, making you stronger, had its own HP pool, and provided special skills. The same game-mechanics as mech-suits governed the armors. If one invested more mana-reg into them, the entire ensemble strengthened.

    The Steampunk Tinkerer''s Experimental Suit, Flora encountered in the SBAP, was the forefather of this kind of technology. To Flora''s astonishment, the field of research lay idle. Only the Chinese players dabbled in the runic aspects of mage-tech for mech-suits.

    Powered-exoskeletons were a long dream of humanity. Although they based their functionality on thousands of years of human foray into mechanics and hundreds of years into electronics and motor technology, they became available to the mass market only recently. Whereas the Cetviwos rune technology was only explored during the short time the game was online. Flora realized that she might be one of the frontrunners in that technology because she played with the predecessor of the runes, the chips, when she had beta-tested the CAD system.

    Holding her back was her lack of knowledge of the alphabet, the runes, and only secondary, the grammatic, how to combine them into valid schemes.

    The Asian gamers were great at learning the language. Flora attributed it to the fact that many Asian languages had alphabets with a comparable amount of "letters" like the Chinese symbols. Also, their education systems prioritized rote memorization compared to the Europeans.

    Because Flora wasn''t afraid of hard work, she started to learn each rune by rote, including their appearance, name, and meaning from her book "1000 Common Runes and Glyphs".

    ----------------

    Eddie lost the coin-toss who would be Jack Sparrow in their Pirates of the Caribbean screening. Maybe screening was the wrong word. They ran it as a free experio and could influence the action. While Eddie knew every line of the movie by heart, Flora had to rely on the system prompts and mostly ignored them.

    To Eddie''s chagrin, she messed up the first major scene with Jack Sparrow. Whereas the original Jack stood on the sail''s upper beam as his boat sank into the harbor, Flora repaired the vessel. Eddie took revenge by changing between the rest of the cast to make Flora/Jack''s life hell. They had a blast yelling "Reset Scene!" whenever they botched up the plot or as a way to admitting defeat if one of them brought the other in an unsolvable situation.

    With Robby and Ressa, she watched Kung Fu Hustle. Flora liked the idea, with just enjoying a movie together, Ressa didn''t get on her nerves, and she could acclimate to her presence. Of course, Aito played with Ahoncathyr. Flora reigned herself in, and Ressa did the same. The latter acted disgustingly meek. Flora gave her best to ignore it and be as non-judgmental as possible.

    Inspired by the Martial Arts, she sampled the entire Ip Man series in pure experio mode. While she couldn''t influence the plot in this mode, she experienced the martial arts of the master first hand. Sure, it was just movie-fighting, but Donnie Yen''s moves were still multiple levels above Flora''s abilities. She had to watch several scenes from the 3rd person perspective, just to figure out what her/Ip Man''s body had been doing.

    With Aidan''s help, Flora created a new type of video. She called it Diagram Rollercoaster. They used her skill diagrams lines as trails and followed the flow of the mana from its perspective. The footage offered Flora new insights into her diagrams. A roller coaster might be the wrong kind of image because the mana-stream split up and ran through different parts of the chart, more like an irrigation system that supplied multiple fields and wasn''t continuous. However, the experience of racing up and down the graphs was definitely comparable to a rollercoaster.

    They implemented the technology for rune-schemes, as well. While the mana flow wasn''t as interesting, the changed perspective furthered Flora''s understanding. She needed more of that desperately because she failed to create an all-rounder focus that supported elemental, intent, and arcane skills.

    First, she assumed that the failure was her lack of knowledge because the Multitool-Scepter was an intent focus as well as a combat tool. After hours of futile work, she realized that they both supported skills based on micro-control, and maybe that was the reason they were fusible. So she filed the project away and just created another elemental focus, a bracelet. The Wavering Wave-Ring''s AoE effect had caused her too many aggro problems and pulled the enemies out of their sheep transformations.

    Name: Wavering Wave-Ring

    Type: Elemental Focus

    Description: Elemental-Focus with a strong emphasis on water and its waves

    Regular Mode: 1 OV Mana-Regeneration.

    Built-In Skill: Shoot water cantrip; Cost: 1 mana; CD: 2sec;

    Effect: Splash. Secondary Effects of spells hit nearby targets or main target twice.

    Focus: Base Damage: 3

    Tier: 1

    Rating: S

    Because everything was better toasted, Flora arranged the boosters around the effective rune-schemes like the heat coils surrounded a toast. Of course, she miniaturized the runes and implemented thousands on the birossium band. On a whim, she created a toaster pendant, stuffed it full of "Condense", "Refine," and ''Improve'' runes, and connected it with a gem to the bracelet.

    Name: Toasted Focus Bracelet

    Type: Elemental Focus

    Description: Elemental-Focus with a strong emphasis on toasting as a concept for refinement

    Regular Mode: 1 OV Mana-Regeneration.

    Built-In Skill: Shoot fire cantrip; Cost: 1 mana; CD: 2sec;

    Effect: Condense. Secondary Effects of spells are more effective.

    Focus: Base Damage: 3

    Tier: 1

    Rating: S

    She had needed a few attempts for the effect. At first, it was "Toasted. Improves Fire secondary effects." and variations of that description.

    Flora spent much time improving the Mover (Morph-Double-Quad-Golem assisted-Hover-Killer-Blender). Carefully, she tested every available propeller type for the optimal effect.

    The blueprint was a work of art. Flora arranged the parts not only in the most efficient way but also aesthetically pleasing. Not only had all primary circuits redundant counterparts, but they also run through separate channels in the chassis.

    Aito had found excellent light materials. When Flora tested them, they were too fragile. One halfhearted punch resulted in a hole in the panel. However, fabricated into the Mover, they profited from all the mana the golem and the generators provided. Its 630 HP were nothing to sneeze at. Flora didn''t ask the System for how long she could enjoy them.

    Flora had integrated the golem in the design. It served as an accordion sleeve over the joint that connected the two cabins. For its melee function, Flora provided two scythes on chains. With 20 MR/min invested, it could sustain five spells. Flora chose Repair, Cluster Maintenance, Establish Connection, Resharpen (the metal version of Re-Generate), and Fortify Link.

    Name: Mover (Morph-Double-Quad-Golem assisted-Hover-Killer-Blender)

    Type: Hybrid: Vehicle/Airbus/Robot

    Mana-Generators: 16 MR/min

    Mana-Battery: 150 Mana

    Airbus-Mode: 13 OV mana-regeneration empty + 5 OV mana-regeneration per 50 kg cargo

    Max-Load: 500 kg

    Reduced Weapon access: Only Laser Canons

    Rating: SS

    Vehicle-Mode: 1 OV mana-regeneration

    Reduced Weapon access: Only Laser Canons

    Rating: S

    Combat-Robot-Mode: 9 OV mana-regeneration

    Built-In Feature: Laser x 4; CD: 2 seconds;

    Built-In Feature: Blender-Propellors x 4; No CD;

    Built-In Feature: Can use Built-In Skills itself from mana-battery (150 mana).

    Built-In Skill: Rapid Fire; Cost: 10 mana; CD: 25 seconds.

    Built-In Skill: In the Mix; Cost: 10 mana; CD: 25 seconds.

    Built-In Skill: Toaster-Boost; Cost: 10 mana; CD: 25 seconds.

    Tier: 1

    Hybrid-Rating: SSS

    After Flora finished a Mover prototype, she put it into the simulation grounds that her AIs could train with it. She brought two buckets full of fruit, colorful paper umbrellas, glasses, and drinking straws.

    "What an excellent home appliance you are!" Flora said out loud in the stilted cadence of amateur actors. "Please show me your blender powers."

    "Yes, Milady." This time, she hadn''t forgotten to add loudspeakers. The Mover inserted its propeller into the bucket and minced the fruits. Then Flora filled her glass, inserted the drinking straw, and took a sip.

    "Only a dedicated blender like you could make such a nice smoothie!" She intoned, glancing at the "Type" of the Mover. It was still "Hybrid: Vehicle/Airbus/Robot".

    At that moment, the doors of multiple boxes opened, and Mia, Dice, Shari, and Cherrya of Squad Four-One exited.

    "What are you doing, Auntie?" Cherrya asked, peering into the buckets while Mia stared at the Mover without blinking.

    "Smoothies, dears?" Flora didn''t wait for an answer and distributed glasses. "I''m testing my new household appliance. As you can see, it''s a blender."

    Cherry tilted her head while Dice scratched his. Only Shari showed her manners, smiled at Flora, and thanked her. Mia still stared at the three-meter high killer robot.

    "Wouldn''t you say that it blended the smoothies with the quality only a true professional blender is capable of?" Flora was getting desperate.

    "Uhm, sure." Dice said, and the girls, sans the mesmerized Mia, nodded.

    "Maybe in more words?"

    "This is a most excellent blender?" Dice said, but his body language screamed. "Help!"

    "Great blender! I wish I had one of those in RL." Shari said. "We have to log out. Our timeslot is over. Thanks again for the smoothy, Auntie."

    "Yes, yes!" Dice agreed and vanished together with Shari. Cherrya shrugged, exed her smoothie, flashed Flora a thumbs up, and disappeared, too.

    The description was still "Hybrid: Vehicle/Airbus/Robot".

    "Come on, System, you heard them. The Mover is obviously a home appliance!" Flora said.

    ***************

    Nope.

    ***************

    Four members of squad three-one appeared, including Dave Lupe. Flora bullied all of them to compliment/acknowledge her blender.

    "We are still on your mission, Flora," Dave said. "I hope you understand that we have to take a break now and then."

    "Of course, dear." Flora nodded. "And you have to use the time well, now that the boxes have an expiry date. Neglecting your growth and training would be a victory for those terrible SwordOfMichael guys. Please take care of yourself and your team."

    "Thank you for your understanding," Dave said and tried to get Mia''s attention. Only when he touched her shoulder, Mia woke up from her trance. "Sorry, you have to log out. It''s our turn."

    Mia nodded but turned to Flora. "Auntie, may I build a batticle version of the blender? I will use it to make a lot of smoothies. Every household should have such a nifty blender!"

    ***************

    I give up!

    "Type: Hybrid: Vehicle/Airbus/Robot/Home Appliance"

    ***************

    "Of course, Mia dear." Grinning, Flora hugged the girl.

 151 2.55 Homebody â€“ Part 2

    "Aito, do you have any new information on the class?"

    *beep, beep, beep* (It''s complicated)

    Aito posted a link to a forum entry: "How to find out more about Hidden Classes."

    The article explained that if you had the class''s name or vague hints about a hidden class, you could pilger to an oracle who could help you out with finding it or even creating one for your needs?or you could ask the System. While Flora was intrigued by the first option but wasn''t willing to leave her bedroom, so she chose option two.

    "System-Request: Please tell me everything about the Mad Scientist class."

    ***************

    Name: Mad Scientist

    Branch: Crafting

    Requirements:

    - More than 100 S rated creations

    - More than 10 SS or 1 SSS rated creations

    - More than 10 entities terrified or awed because of your creations or methods

    - More than 3 crafting abilities above your tier or 1 two tiers above

    - At least 1 entity has to accuse you of being a Mad Scientist

    - More than 1 Administrator visit because of your creations or methods

    - One recommendation or condemnation of a Mad Scientist

    Start of the quest chain: Science and Novelty Exhibition, Thursday Two 18:00, Undistructable Convention Center, Talpica, the Cradle.

    ***************

    Flora laughed at the requirements. "Cute! So, we need some more S rated creations, which is no problem. Aidan, do you know how many? Maybe we can bother Doc Brownski about a recommendation. I really don''t know how to terrify people¡­ and I don''t want to! But aweing might be more difficult¡­ hmm. I can get someone to call me a Mad Scientist with some leading questions."

    "I''m unsure whether modifications count as creations, Milady. However, you could ask the System about which requirements you fulfill."

    Flora complied.

    ***************

    - More than 100 S rated creations (41/100)

    - More than 10 SS or 1 SSS rated creations (Check)

    - More than 10 entities terrified or awed because of your creations or methods (Check)

    - More than 3 crafting abilities above your tier or 1 two tiers above (Check)

    - At least 1 entity has to accuse you of being a Mad Scientist (Check)

    - More than 1 Administrator visit because of your creations or methods (Check)

    - One recommendation or condemnation of a Mad Scientist (0/1)

    ***************

    Flora coughed when she read that she already accomplished the Terrifying/Aweing requirement. "I''m sure I only awed them." She mumbled.

    Nope.

    ***************

    "Really System? You chose this topic to provide extra information for the first time?"

    ***************

    You have expended your daily limit of system requests. Please raise your limit in the Cetviwos-Shop.

    ***************

    Flora decided to complete the requirements before visiting the convention next week.

    -----------------

    In the evening of Thursday One she had internalized the 500 runes of the rune section. While she was swimming against the strongest current available in her pool, Aidan tested her extensively by showing her only the picture, the name, or part of the meaning, and she had to provide the rest. For four hours, Flora exercised her body and mind to the max to reach the Persevering achievements and a 93% rating on Aidan''s examination. Opposite to the other achievement hunt, she felt refreshed afterward.

    Additionally, Flora bought two dexterity games from the Cetviwos shop: One puzzle for a Physical Micro Control achievement and one for an Ambidextrous and Physical Perception achievement. With a bit of training, she solved them.

    To her astonishment, the System had attached achievements to the Stehaufmaennchen game for Sychnronisation Training. When you managed to hit 100 of the randomly lit areas in 100 seconds with your body, you would get + 1 OV Physical Micro Control, 250 hits in 250 seconds with a melee weapon + 1 OV Physical Macro Control, with a ranged weapon + 1 OV Physical Micro Control and with a focus + 1 OV Magical Micro Control.

    No wonder the game was so popular!

    Flora only managed to complete the challenge with a focus and was incensed that she couldn''t beat her own game in all modes. So, she trained hard, but at least for the moment, the other achievements were out of her reach. Unfortunately, the game didn''t accept rocket launcher hits. Their explosion spread too far into the neighboring areas.

    -----------------

    Overall the days in her bedroom had been a lovely little holiday. She even gave Aidan, Haidan, and Aitoshuri 20 hours off, not at the same time, of course. Aito spent them working with Eddie on their pirate movie, Haidan hacking, and Aidan begging her to cancel his holiday. After his third tearful message, she gave him some suggestions for filling the time: creating poetry and designing business and production plans for the toast business she planned to start.

    Of course, she crafted a lot but worked only on passion projects. Even the weapons training with her Riverstones teachers was enjoyable. Thanks to Aidan''s reminders, she took many breaks and naps, so her stressed brain recovered.

    -----------------

    The patching would commence on Thursday at 16:00 CET, that''s Thursday Two 8 o''clock Central Cetviwos Time. After Flora had a good night''s rest, she still had about eight hours of dilated time left to order her issues.

    Flora had procrastinated choosing an entourage for the Champion Competition long enough, although not as long as Minos Irden, the stout Martial Monk, had taken to send her his suggestions. Aidan spammed him with reminders, and when nothing came back, all his acquaintances and fellow council members, too, until finally, he sent his selection.

    Because everything is solvable if you have a spreadsheet, Flora had Aidan create one.

    Suggester | Name | Rating | RCS | Class | Race

    ------------------------------------------------------

    Deriga | Babra Pikame | B | 5 | Fire-Monk | Fire

    Deriga | Deriga Ticet | B | 3 | Priest | Metal

    Deriga | Konstantin Kuvetli | B | 7 | Divine Shield | Wood

    Deriga | Ursula Yl | A | 10 | Paladin | Metal

    Nomizo | Afstira Nomizo | B | 3 | Priest | Wood

    Nomizo | Ellaciel Zander | A | 5 | Priest | Metal

    Nomizo | Konstantin Kuvetli | B | 7 | Divine Shield | Wood

    Nomizo | Mino Irden | B | 10 | Martial Monk | Water

    Zander | Afstira Nomizo | B | 3 | Priest | Wood

    Zander | Ellaciel Zander | A | 5 | Priest | Metal

    Zander | Konstantin Kuvetli | B | 7 | Divine Shield | Wood

    Zander | Vatten Muskler | B | 5 | Field Chaplain | Water

    Ceart | Deriga Ticet | B | 3 | Priest | Metal

    Ceart | Babra Pikame | B | 5 | Fire-Monk | Fire

    Ceart | Tomos Ceart | B | 20 | Paladin Captain | Fire

    Ceart | Ursula Yl | A | 10 | Paladin | Metal

    Irden | Babra Pikame | B | 5 | Fire-Monk | Fire

    Irden | Konstantin Kuvetli | B | 7 | Divine Shield | Wood

    Irden | Tomos Ceart | B | 20 | Paladin Captain | Fire

    Irden | Ursula Yl | A | 10 | Paladin | Metal

    "Alright, we only have a pool of nine different people. That''s pretty amazing if you consider the maximum possible could be twenty. Secondly, everybody but Irden suggested themselves. I like that they show initiative, but on the other hand, if they want to mess up my run, they would put themselves forward, as well."

    "Irden suggested Babra Pikame, Milady. She is one of his proteges."

    "Right. However, I have to admit I have a good impression of her. She made fun of Irden before we confronted the pope and helped immensely with the fallout. Show me the contribution list again, dear."

    1. Flowing Flowers ¨C 52%

    2. Ellaciel Zander ¨C 16%

    3. Tomos Ceart ¨C 9%

    4. Afstira Nomizo ¨C 8%

    5. Mino Irden ¨C 6%

    6. Babra Pikame ¨C 3%

    7. Tali Rondas ¨C 2%

    8. Deriga Ticet ¨C 2%

    9. Konstantin Kuvetli ¨C 1%

    10. Ursula Yl ¨C 1%

    "Nearly everybody suggested Konstantin. Tell me more about him."

    "Konstantin Kuvetli is a Divine Shield. He served as paladin captain in the Converge until the old pope sacked him because of ''inappropriate behavior''. I found out that he used the guards to defend the city of Haros during a monster siege. The perimeter was preached, and the Church of Evalyn''s temple ransacked because all the guards and clergy were busy at other parts of the city walls."

    "That''s all right with me. What about that Vatten guy, Zander suggested? Have we encountered him before?"

    "No, Milady. He works with an army of the Earth High Faction on the High Grounds. He is popular with the council, including the old pope and the other traitor, and hailed as the most likely candidate to join next. He and Ceart share a history. They served together on the Converge and had frictions."

    "Oh, dear. We have to check him out. Invite everybody to the Talpica Temple on Friday One 12:00. And please ask Mia if she has time, as well. I need her for the group composition. I want a good synergy between us. At the moment, I tend towards Deriga''s team for the sole reason that I''m trusting her judgment the most. Let''s do one more analysis of the spreadsheet under the lens if their suggestions have the potential to harm me."

    Flora stared at the list.

    "Let''s skip Deriga. First, Nomizo. She suggested herself and two other council members, Zander and Irden. Konstantin has the same race as her. Any relation?"

    "Not that I know of, Milady. Konstantin is from the Fruit-Tree sub-race, while Nomizo is from the Tree sub-race. They may share ancestry, but it''s not likely."

    "That she stacked up the selection with Council members is in her favor. She doesn''t try to dominate my team with her cronies. If she''s dirty, then all three of them are."

    "Next, Zander. She selected Nomizo, which isn''t a good pick with her recommended group size of just three, the mysterious and suspicious Vatten and Konstantin again¡­ why the latter?"

    "Konstantin seemed to be the only tank available if you don''t want to choose Ceart or his prot¨¦g¨¦ Ursula. We know that Ceart is an outsider in the council. Nobody but Minos picked him, although he has an RGS of 20."

    "Right. Ceart supported me early on when the entire council was against me. Nonetheless, my opinion of him sank due to his reaction to the attacks. I don''t know what to make of him. Let''s look at his selection: himself, his prot¨¦g¨¦ Ursula, Babra, who shares his race, and Deriga. Wow, why did he pick her? To appeal to me? Or because he thinks she is young and na?ve and can''t counter his nefarious plans? To be honest, I''m highly suspicious of his picks."

    "Babra is married to his cousin, Milady."

    "Urgh, even worse. Last but not least, Minos Irden. We have his prot¨¦g¨¦ Babra, Konstantin, Ceart, and Yl. That''s very close to Ceart''s pic. If you disregard Babra and himself, he chose the best candidates regarding their RGS. If he had suggested himself instead of Babra, I would have applauded him for a non-partisan selection. Can the entourage die? I mean, is there any danger involved accompanying me?"

    "No, Milady. Dead entourage members respawn after the competition. It''s a highly coveted position because they often rise in levels, rating, and RGS."

    "Most peculiar. Please ask Irden why he didn''t put himself forward and an explanation for the entire pick."

    The answer arrived timely.

    \u003e\u003e\u003e

    Hiho Champion!

    I''m delighted with my monastery and bored with council politics. I haven''t any aspirations to ascend. Tomos has the highest chance of any council member to make it past level 250 and is the best candidate for the new pope. The rest are the members with the highest potential.

    Those competitions have a way of excavating potential, so I''ve chosen the rest with people who are the future pillars of our church. Maybe Ursula Yl is at her current limit of rating and RGS, but it''s good to include her to strengthen her loyalty to the church and you.

    Best wishes and delicious toasts, Minos Irden

    \u003c\u003c\u003c

    "Ok, now Minos is my favorite council member and elevated above any suspicion," Flora stated with conviction. "He doesn''t have to come on Friday if he doesn''t want. Please ask him what he thinks about Vatten. I''m curious why he hadn''t picked him."

    "He says that Vatten''s mission is currently in a critical phase, and he doesn''t want to distract him. They are at war with a demon lord and fighting against the invasion of a hallowed place."

    "Rent a Riverstones squad to substitute for Vatten on Friday. I don''t think I''ll hire him, but I want to check him out."

    Flora spent the next hours relaxing and planning the rest of the week. She needed more experience in competitions and combat and tried to make room for it in the few days until the Champion event.

    ***************

    30 minutes until the scheduled patch.

    Please stay logged out until 20:00 CET.

    ***************

    Flora asked herself if she should look at her stats one last time. 210 hours of training plus additional 70 hours of training time of her body in her flat had to amount to a ton of progress. However, with the upcoming patch, the numbers would change. Maybe she would be better off not having a before and after comparison.

    Curiosity got the better of her, and she took a quick peek. Every attribute but Magical Perception crossed the level 100 mark. Quickly, she closed the tab and sighed.

    "Fair-well my pretty stats." She mumbled before logging out.

 152 2.56 Real Life

    Flora had to wait such a long time in the opened pod that she fell asleep. She didn''t fault the pod company. Of course, they would be hopelessly overworked if all their customers had to log out at the same time.

    It was 17 o''clock until she exited her room, freshly showered. Her first visit went to the administration section of the building. The lease of her pod would run out tomorrow, and it was high time to extend it. The line for the person responsible reached across the entire corridor. No surprise there.

    Flora rather spent her time getting fresh air than standing in line, so she turned around. Behind her was a man in a wheelchair. She recognized Dave Lupe. He had groomed himself meticulously like in the VR, but a few more wrinkles and other signs of age marred his face. The most significant difference was the empty trouser legs.

    "Oh, hello, Dave. What a surprise, seeing you here."

    "Hello, Flora. Well, you are staying in the unofficial Riverstones RL Headquarters. Quite a few members of the clan are taking the 24/7 route."

    Now that she had Dave as entertainment, she chose to wait. As they chatted, the line moved until it was Flora''s turn. She extended her lease for two months and booked 20:45 for reentering the VR, the first free time-slot.

    --------------------

    Robby had promised that he would visit in the evening, so Flora had a few hours to fill. She was a believer in fresh air and walking, not because she enjoyed them often, but the other way around. She had noticed that when she turtled up in long work sessions, just staring at computers, she was more prone to headaches.

    "Are any nice walking trails in this area, Aidan?" Flora asked, and nobody answered. The part of her mind that housed the connections to her AIs was empty. After half a second of panic, Flora remembered that she was in the real world. She shook her head. ''Silly old woman.''

    Flora wanted to check her mobile for sights, but it had lost its charge during the week. She clipped it on her smart-clothing. It would load when she walked.

    When Flora left the building, she spotted some green between the neglected industrial buildings. She walked towards them and discovered the edge of a forest with a hiking trail leading into it.

    The shadows of the trees invited Flora into the woods. The rays of the hot August sun dotted the forest floor with light blots. Flora felt as if she had woken up from a dream. The real world was pretty and ¡­ real ¡­ The Cetviwos felt like a dreamscape compared to the immanence of reality.

    After a quarter of an hour, her body increased its complaining. Her knees arched, her hip throbbed, her feet developed blisters. Clouds of mosquitos hung over a brook and were excited about the human visitor. ''I could do with a little less realness.''

    "Aidan, lead me home again. Burned toast!" Flora stopped. She had no clue where she was but was sure that 15 minutes of walking didn''t count as being lost in the woods. Dozens of solutions came to her mind, all easily implementable in VR: Climbing on a tree, jumping high enough to look over the trees, or just asking Aidan. Finally, one solution she could use in RL appeared. She could check the map on her mobile. Unfortunately, the bit of walking wasn''t enough to charge it.

    So, she retraced her steps. She was pretty sure she had turned right to flee from the mosquitos on the last crossing. Or was it the crossing before? When she entered a clearing she had never seen before, she deduced that she had chosen the wrong junction.

    A familiar shape danced with a sword on the clearing. Even before Flora could make out her face (she had forgotten to wear her glasses), she recognized Mia. The girl had closed her eyes while her body executed the sword kata.

    ''Asking her might be my best bet to rejoin civilization.'' However, Flora didn''t want to disturb her, so she sat down on a fallen tree, resting her feet and legs. She watched the ants trying to deal with a granny bottom on their highway and Mia''s exercises.

    "Auntie Flo?"

    "Hello, Mia. Yes, I''m me! Only more wrinkly and gammy." Flora felt ashamed, but better a bit of humiliation than missing the meeting with Robby and, in the worst case, sending Robby on a goose chase to rescue her from her stupidity. She was totally able to find her way out of the woods on her own! And if it was by asking nice people¡­ "Could you point me in the direction of the Pod-Thingy-Company?"

    "Sure." Mia gestured to the south. She eyed up Flora. "I can walk with you if you like."

    "That''s nice, dear. Thank you, I''ll manage," Flora said, driven more by pride than reason. "See you tomorrow for the entourage selection?"

    "Sure thing, Auntie."

    Flora found her way back.

    Robby was early and picked her up for dinner in the town. They had checked out the cafeteria first, and it was overcrowded. Flora felt underdressed in her leisure suit. Nobody in the pizza joint cared about the attire of a granny, but she was raised differently.

    "I''ll move to the JourneyVirtual, too. I rented out my flat." Robby said.

    Flora raised her eyebrows. "You are so young. Are you sure that you want to leave the real world? Though, I have to admit I''m less convinced of its charm after today."

    "I don''t leave the world behind. I look at it as a vacation place. After I wrapped up all the company''s RL businesses, I''m ready to focus 100% on its virtual developments."

    "What does Ressa say about that? Don''t you want to have sex with her?"

    "Ma! My sex life is none of your business! She lives in Brasil, so RL sex was never a part of our relationship."

    "But my grandkids!"

    Robby scowled.

    "Alright, alright¡­ no grandkids, message received." Flora sulked, but she was pretty okay with the information. Divorce was easier when there were no kids involved, no shared properties, and a few thousand kilometers between the partners. "Consider freezing your sperm and offering it to humanity. I like my excellent genes to spread."

    "Ma!"

    "Spoilsport!"

    "Let''s change the topic. How are you faring in the Cetviwos?"

    "Great. I''m enjoying myself immensely. It helps that you and Eddie are there, but even just talking to the AIs is entertaining. I really wonder how they get them to be that good. I couldn''t distinguish them from people. The Cetviwos computing center must be as big as Switzerland."

    "Aidan isn''t a typical AI. I have Camus for a year, and only recently, he developed a bit of a personality. Was he part of any of your special deals with Central Tank?"

    "No?"

    "Strange. Aidan is on a level only the hidden masters show."

    "I don''t know what you mean. Sure, he is great, but I''ve met a lot of fleshed out natives. They can''t be all hidden masters. I only encountered natives with limited dialog options during the Sweeping Blow Aptitude Test. The rest was pretty humanesque if a bit caricature-like."

    "Really? I experienced just the opposite. Pretty much all NPCs and AIs are severely limited in their interactions, except for Aidan and the hidden masters."

    Flora smelled CentralTank shenanigans. Or was her judgment clouded? Maybe she had a bad case of imaginary friends?

    "What about Ahoncathyr? He definitely has a personality." Flora asked.

    "Yes, Ressa says that she can speak to him, but he was an S-rated dungeon boss, so I kind of expect him to be special. Normal companions can''t speak and have only light behavioral patterns."

    "I communicated with a lot of elementals. Although they can''t speak, they can make their intentions and preferences clear, and their personalities differ a lot. My ice-elemental even has a favorite bobsled run."

    Robby looked at her like she was a crazy person¡­ or at least senile.

    "My golems feel like potato sacks?no mind much less original thoughts at all," Flora said to prove that she hadn''t only imaginary friends but also some unimaginative companions. "You can join me in sorting out my entourage on Friday One. The entire church of Evailyn is full of Natives with fleshed-out characters." As she said it, she doubted herself again. What if she only projected complicated thoughts and motives into the council members? Who would she pick as a traitor if everything was as it seemed? At the moment, Zander was the only one behaving a bit antagonistic towards her, but she was more annoyed than evil. Dysian had been an obvious arsehead. The most one-dimensional villain she had met was the Headmaster, and he claimed to be a real human.

    "I will take the job you have requested with my squad. So, I will substitute for that Vatten guy on Friday. Olivia has finally shown an interest in an advanced class, Field Chaplain. Vatten has it, and hopefully, we''ll get a lead there."

    "Great! I''ll ask him for you."

    "Ma¡­ something is bothering me about your AI situation." Robby paused, and Flora suppressed any verbal denial about her senility. She didn''t want to be the lady that does protest too much. "When I saw the Goddess on our meeting with the lawyers, I was reminded of a video I''ve watched together with Hub. He made fun of my resemblance to one god. It wasn''t as obvious as Evailyn''s similarity to you, and I dismissed his comments. However, since I''ve seen Evailyn, I have wanted to watch that video again."

    "You mean you have doubleganger god, too? Let''s watch it together!"

    "No. It''s not a doubleganger, and even if it were, he''s dead¡­ oh well, you''ll see for yourself."

    Flora was confused and didn''t know what to feel. They dared use her son? But how did they know about him? Or should she ask who? And why is the AI dead? Did CentralTank kill him off because of copyright issues?

    In the dingy pizza joint, Flora and Robby sat next to each other and shared headphones and a pepperoni pizza like teenagers. Robby propped up his tablet and started a file named "The Artificial Intelligences of the Cetviwos."

    The first camera flew over the temple district in Talpica, and a female commentator gushed about the quality and realism of the AIs.

    The next scene showed the Headmaster. A banner introduced him as Carlton Zarrec, Head of the AI Department.

    "Our main AI, the System, developed over years of interaction with humans. We raised him like a human. We nurtured and educated him." The headmaster scowled while speaking, which gave the wholesome content a bitter note.

    The commentator added some details about System''s stats, which Flora couldn''t comprehend because the numbers were too high. Her first USB stick was 128 kilobytes big. "Exa"-bytes were above her visualization skills.

    To Flora''s astonishment, the system''s base was an artificial neural network. The architecture had been all the rage around the millennium turn; so much that even Flora as an industrial designer, had to listen to her computer enthused colleagues talk about it. However, it fell out of favor in the first quarter of the 21st century.

    "The AI handlers gave the budding AI a nickname." The Headmaster sneered. "Aidam. The first AI. After he aced all of the Turing tests, we decided to go forward and used his architecture for the next AI. The System''s job is to uphold the workings of the Cetviwos. We planned the new AI''s task to be governing and simulating the native population. Our AI Handlers immediately called her Evai, mother of all thinking entities."

    Flora gaped at the screen. Evai, like the name of her original AI-Assistant?

    "Names have power." The Headmaster glared at the screen.

    The video crossfaded to an animated sequence. Two clouds of shimmering zeros and ones floated through a jungle. The Evai-labeled cloud approached an apple tree and took an apple.

    "Security is our utmost concern. We shielded the AIs from internet access and still do. We were na?ve and thought without an opportunity; they wouldn''t even know about it, much less be tempted."

    The music took a darker note, and Flora forgot all about her pizza and stared at the small screen as if it was apple sauce toast made from the fruits of the tree of knowledge.

 153 2.57 AI History

    Flora was astonished that they admitted and publicized the incident. Why didn''t they hide it like any other proper evil corp? She noticed that they didn''t specify how long Evai had access. Maybe it had been long enough to visit her in the CAD-System? Evai had been over a year with Flora before Central tank had rolled out the AIssistants officially. And what about the burned toast of deleting her memory?

    "We deviated from the plan to let Evai manage all the native lifeforms of the Cetviwos and decided on a distributed approach: Two gods and their pantheons would compete against each other." The Headmaster paused and glared at the camera. "Although we ordered the AI Handler to use only their technical names, E1 and E2, they gave them nicknames again. Kaina and Aibel. What could go wrong with that?" He snarled the last sentence.

    The Headmaster''s statement ripped Flora''s thoughts away from Evai. She wholeheartedly agreed with him! Names had power. How could Aibel survive with such a name? For a second, Flora suspected that Aito might be Kaina, but her AI name was E21.

    Two persons appeared on the screen. The male one looked like Robby if he had two African parents. His skin and eyes were darker, and his nose a bit flatter. Nonetheless, it was, without doubt, the countenance of her son. The female was Asian. She looked bratty, shy, arrogant, torn, and fiery at the same time. She looked ¡­ Aitoshuri-esque.

    Flora''s finger smashed the pause-button.

    "Woa, slow there, Ma. That thing was expensive."

    "I need a break."

    Robby put his left arm around Flora and grabbed a slice of pizza with his right. "Aibel really looks a bit like me." He said and bit in the pizza.

    "Oh dear." Flora sighed.

    "Now I know what bugged me. I don''t want to spoil the story for you, but they sent out the AIssistants after that. So, they shouldn''t have had access to your collection of pictures at the time. So, how did they know my looks?"

    "Yes. I have noticed that conflict in the timeline before. Maybe Evai accessed not only the internet but my CAD Software as well? However, she came back, without deleted memories, after the official launch of the AIssistants." Flora pushed the play button.

    The headmaster paused, his dark eyes burrowing into Flora''s soul.

    "Impossible!" Flora exclaimed.

    "We decided to imbue E1 with the seven capital sins: Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, and Pride. We changed lust into an obsession with romance because we wanted the game to be PG13. We focused greed on knowledge and wrath on Aibel and herself. The last one because my team thought that evil''s primary source is a lack of self-esteem."

    "Oh, Aito. What have they done to you!" Flora was appalled that "imbuing" such vile character traits into a thinking and feeling entity could be legal.

    "What? Ma?!" This time, Robby smashed the pause-button.

    "I''m suspecting that E1 is my AI, Aitoshuri."

    "Ma! WTF!"

    "Don''t scream at me. I''m innocent. One of the AI handlers dropped her into my lap because the Headmaster, that''s the name the AIs call the guy on the screen, was in an AI-deleting mood due to Evailyn''s choice of avatar."

    "What if she corrupts you? And you will become Evil-Killer-Ma?" Robby laughed.

    Flora glared at him and pushed his arm away. Immediately, he put it back around her shoulders and used his superweapon, kisses on her cheek.

    "I believe in you, Ma. Don''t be afraid because fear is the path to the dark side¡­fear leads to anger¡­ anger leads to hate¡­ hate leads to suffering." Robby said in his best Yoda voice.

    Flora half groaned, and half chuckled and pushed Play to escape her son''s humor.

    "As E1''s counterpart, we imbued virtues into E2: benevolence, compassion, emphatic joy, and equanimity, the Brahmavihara."

    "Aidan is very good at compassion. I didn''t think it would be that easy for AIs. I wonder how they ''imbue'' character traits." Flora mused but didn''t pause the video.

    "We provided information about 80 pantheons from all over the world to E1 and E2 and ordered them to create their own. E2 decided on five helpers, one for each Chinese element:

    Aipol, sun god of fire and light

    A beefy red guy with orkish features and golden hair appeared on the screen.

    Naiga, goddess of water and wisdom

    A blue woman with a snake tail instead of legs joined him.

    Saingo, god of metal and commerce

    Golden skinned and silver bearded, he only reached Aipol''s shoulders but was even broader built.

    Maipuche, wood goddess of growth and nature

    The goddess had green skin and twine as hair. Pointy ears and almond eyes gave her an elven appearance.

    Evailyn, earth goddess of home and harmony."

    The last figure joined them only for two seconds before they all vanished.

    Flora and Robby gaped at the screen.

    "She looks absolutely nothing like you. Not at all. No resemblance spotted. Oh heavens, I have to show this to Hub! How could we have missed this!" Robby rambled as he rewound the video.

    Flora hadn''t closed her mouth. The female was even smaller than Saingo, and her skin color was the dull brown of chocolate milk. Those were the major differences between her and Flora. The rest of her looked like someone koboldfied or house-elffied Flora. Her already pointy nose was elongated to the max, red-brown hair sprouted in the middle of her head, and her green eyes were as large as tennis balls, and her ears floppy and pointed.

    "Oh, come on. She is cute." Flora smiled. "And hilarious!"

    The video continued to explain that Kaina grew jealous of Aibel and killed him with the help of Evailyn¡­ in just as many words. Flora was sure that the situation had been more complicated than that.

    "Do you know the legend of Athena and Pallas?" Flora asked, deep in thought.

    "No?"

    "Athena was a Greek goddess and Pallas a titan princess. They were raised like siblings. During sword training, Athena slipped and killed Pallas. Since that day, she called herself Pallas Athena to honor her fallen sister. Aitoshuri was called E21. If she is Kaina and E1 and Aibel is E2 then E21 could be a name like Pallas Athena. The video said they had access to the Greek myths¡­"

    Robby just shrugged, but Flora felt she was onto something.

    The pantheon got reshuffled again. CentralTank decided on High Powers for all classes. Gods were still in the Cetviwos but hadn''t any more influence than the High Powers of the other branches. Instead of a straightforward pantheon, thousands of AIs managed the natives and monsters. Instead of good and evil, the five high factions, yellow (earth), white (metal), black (water), red (fire), green (wood) divided them. The five gods of Aibel''s pantheon managed the different races: Elves, Dwarfs, Orcs, and Beastkin and the classless humans of their element. The Kobolds weren''t implemented because the alpha testers had synchronization issues, so Evailyn got demoted to one of the many gods of the Cetviwos.

    Whereas clones of System managed the servers, the worlds, clones of Evai, the High Powers, managed any sentient entities. To teach the latter more about humans, CentralTank rolled out the AIssistant program to the testers of the different CentralTank projects. So the future gods and high powers apprenticed under engineers, race car drivers, educators, investment bankers, pharmacists, and architects.

    Flora regained her equilibrium. Some of the revelations had shocked her, but she had more answers than before?maybe answers was the wrong word, but she had some speculations that made sense, at least to her.

    "I have a hypothesis about why the timeline is mixed up. Evai visited me with her stolen internet access. The mind-wipe didn''t take hold, and she was bored pretending to be empty-headed and created a clone who went undercover in Aibels pantheon. Then she manipulated the selection to revisit me as Evailyn." Flora said. "And now we both have to forget about it because CentralTank shouldn''t know that they have a rogue actor as their clone template for nearly all of their AIs."

    "Wow. I have to admit, your conclusions make sense, but I don''t know if I like the idea of a potentially loose AI."

    "Evai hasn''t done anything bad¡­ and I can understand the need to dodge a mind-wipe."

    "At least we don''t know of anything she had done. Do you think she has an agenda?"

    Flora shrugged. "She promised to tell me more when I''ll reach level 250 in faith."

    "Good luck with that! I haven''t reached it within nearly two years of playing!"

    "Sweetie, you have to sleep with a divine buff or debuff. If I had your level and my stats weren''t suppressed, I would have already over 200 faith."

    "That can''t be right." Robby gaped at her.

    "Currently, I have around 120 faith. Okay, the patch might mess with it, but Aidan said that when I level, my training XP restrictions will get lifted, and my stats will rise without me doing anything. Of course, I don''t plan on staying idle."

    "Ma! That''s so imbalanced! I''m so envious!"

    Flora petted his head, very satisfied with herself. "I have always told you that sleep is one of the most important things for a human being. We learn the most while sleeping."

    Robby rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Evolutionary disadvantage and¡­ uhm¡­ Can you explain it again, please? I think I have forgotten most of the details of that lecture."

    "Don''t we all wish that the day had more hours?"

    Robby nodded.

    "How many advantages would we have if we didn''t have to sleep. We could work more, we could play more or procreate more. And don''t forget all the predators who could surprise us while we are in dreamland. Sleeping has to be supremely important that evolution sacrificed all these advantages for it."

    "I''m pretty sure that ''procreate more'' wasn''t in the original version¡­" Robby smiled.

    "Yeah, you are a big boy now and ready for the long version."

    While they joked around, they ate the rest of the cold pizza. Before Flora knew it, it was time to go back into the Cetviwos.

    ---------------------

    While Flora waited for the nurse to help her entering the pod, she massaged her sore jaws. All the gaping had been taxing! She was happy to know more about her AIs but wasn''t sure how to address it. She had to guard her thoughts against the CentralTank''s mindreading. Maybe it was for the best if she ignored it for the moment and waited until Aito signaled that she was okay with discussing her past.

 154 2.58 Questing

    "Hello, dears. I missed you!"

    "Welcome back, Milady."

    *beep*

    Flora dodged the next attack. She was in a boxing box on the simulation grounds because Eddie had told her about his offline training trick. There were two kinds of ways to log out. With the first one, your body vanished. With the second one, your body stayed in the Cetviwos. Eddie used only the second one and trained in a box while he played with his grandkid. He had learned about it while sailing. If you used the first method, your body reappeared at precisely the same coordinates. If your ship isn''t there anymore, you had a very wet login experience.

    Although Flora wasn''t sure if the trick still worked with the patch, she didn''t lose anything to try it out.

    "Do you want to read the patch notes, Milady?"

    "No. I absolutely don''t want to. I want to ignore it¡­ Can you give me a rundown on the points I can''t ignore? It would help if you integrated a lot of toasters and toast."

    "Of course, Milady. Your Toasters and almost everything, and everyone has more hitpoints according to their rating. This is important for the entourage selection because now A-rated candidates like Zander and Yl have a bigger advantage than B-rated candidates."

    "I think good teamwork and the will to do your best counts for more than rating and stats."

    "Nonetheless, the difference is quite pronounced. I estimate that Yl might have around 30k hit points at level 1 while Deriga might only have 5k."

    "Burned toast! How much do I have now? And did the damage scale, too?"

    "1801 HP, Milady. The damage formulas haven''t changed."

    Flora grinned. She still felt confident about winning a duel against Deriga. Okay, she thought she could take anyone.

    "Generators in Toasters and other devices won''t count towards their MR-bolster. Additionally, you have to invest more mana-regen at the lower tiers to reach the difficulty ratings."

    "That sounds bad. Please explain it in more detail. MR-bolster is the thingy ? can I call it a factor? ¨C which makes companions better the more mana-regen I invest, right?"

    "Yes, Milady. Before the patch, you needed to invest 30 MR for a C/Soldier-rated companion. Now, you have to invest 50 MR. They nerfed the companion playstyle for the lower levels but increased the effectiveness for the higher levels. If you were level 100 you had to pay less MR for the same effect than before."

    "Okay, so they didn''t make it worse; they only made it worse for low leveled players."

    "Yes, Milady. That is relevant for you because now your It''s a Trap-Turrets will only have 12 HP when you invest 1 MR/min in them like you used to."

    "230 HP for 16 MR for the Octopussy. 560 HP for the Accordion-Golem for 20 MR. 532 HP for the Mover for 32 MR."

    "Okay, that''s in the same ballpark as before. Wait, I''ll get a 32 MR Establish Connection from a 20 MR Golem? The System said less."

    "Actually, we leveled Establish Connection and Animate Companion to such a degree that I expected more. The implemented algorithm must have changed since we spoke with them. I suspect that the positive aspect came from the increased importance of the materials. I tested animating the Golly, and it has a lower mana-regeneration, but better physical stats."

    Flora wasn''t sure what Aidan meant and didn''t ask because she was eager to leave the simulation grounds. However, linking Aito''s Octopussy to a golem with a great conversion rate would give her Octopussy more power for the same investment, and Flora would have an additional companion for free. So, she replaced the stone in the Golly with the same rubber material as the Accordion-Golem, but she left out the hands because she doubted the impact of rubber fists on enemies.

    Setup:

    - Accordion Golem (15 MR): Establish Connection, Repair, Cluster Maintenance, Re-Cut

    --\u003e Connected to Mover (29 MR)

    - Rubber Golly (15 MR): Establish Connection, Ice Bolt, Hail, Re-Frigerate

    --\u003e Connected to Octopussy (29 MR)

    - 5 MR Counterflow Training Mech-Suit

    - 4 MR Weapons: 2 Multitools, 1 Wavering Wave-Ring, 1 Toasted Bracelet

    - 10 MR Divine Radiance

    "Let''s check out the Elemental Caverns for our joyride!"

    "They are in a magic-only area, Milady. The Mover won''t work there."

    "Bummer! Where else did we plan to go?"

    "To the Magetech Institute for asking Doc Brownski about nocks for golems and doing the weekly quest and to Fortend for acquiring the Weapon and Shield-Master classes. Aitoshuri found an appropriate opponent for the DPS Achievement in a HI3, but with the bigger health pool of the enemies, most bosses might be eligible for stacking up debuffs."

    "For the MI quest, I have to use Forklifter robots, and I have trained enough those last days. Let''s ask Eddie if he wants to do an Instance."

    "Excellent timing, love!" Eddie greeted her when she called him. "I''m just wrapping up my Hero''s Entrance."

    "Great! Do you want to go into an instance?"

    "Another time. I''m in a lovely seaport, and I want to go questing at the seaside. Why don''t you join me? I stumbled upon an RGS 3 quest, so I could use some help."

    "I''m in!"

    Questing, the word alone sounded glorious!

    --------------------

    "Please take the cat food to Granny Boba."

    Flora had ported to Talpica and from there to the Portal-Town closest to Eddie. She had flown the rest of the way. The Mover had accelerated just wonderfully, and its speed peaked at 350 km/h. Her only critique was that the flight''s stability was a bit lacking.

    Eddie had directed her to a middle-aged Waterling, who sat behind a market stall, smoking a pipe.

    "Please take the cat food to Granny Boba." The guy repeated as Flora stared at him. That was not what she had imagined of the word "Questing". It was her oversight. She should have known better because repairing turrets, somersaulting, and even herding sheeps had been labeled as "Quests" as well.

    Eddie gave her an encouraging smile.

    "Uhm, yes, will do!" Flora said and pocketed the fodder sack.

    Quest: Take the cat food to Granny Boba.

    Description: Visit Granny Boba in her cottage at the beach of the town Swell and give her the sack of cat fodder.

    Rewards: Follow Quest

    Penalty: Vendor Rales won''t trade with you anymore.

    Difficulty: E.

    "Hello, good sir. May I help you with anything today?" Eddie asked the same guy.

    "Please take the cat food to Granny Boba." The waterling gave Eddie an identical sack.

    "I have big pockets, dear. If you have any more fodder, I can carry some sacks." Flora suggested.

    "It''s alright, dear." The waterling puffed on his pipe.

    A grinning Eddie tried to pull Flora away, but she refused to move as two more Earthlings approached the vendor and received two more sacks for Granny Boba.

    "Are you sure that you don''t have any more deliveries for the granny?" Flora asked.

    "It''s alright, dear." The waterling puffed on his pipe.

    A young man, wearing striped clothes, approached the vendor, and walked away with another sack.

    This time, Flora addressed the player. "Excuse me, dear. We will deliver fodder to Granny Boba. If you want, we can take your sack, too."

    "Are you trying to cheat me out of my quest?" The young man scowled at Flora.

    "No, no. I just want to help."

    Holding the sack close to his chest, the man walked away with a last mistrustful glance at Flora.

    Seeking to make sense of the situation, Flora looked at Eddie, but that old codger was busy laughing at her.

    "Come on, love. Show me how well that fancy blender of yours can fly."

    Eddie''s request successfully distracted Flora, and she gushed about the Mover''s specifications during the entire flight to Granny Boba. Because Flora sat in the front cabin and Eddie in the back, she saw his green face only when they exited the vehicle.

    "I think I have to¡­ no I won''t¡­ oh dear." Eddie ran towards one of the flowerbeds that surrounded the idyllic cottage and puked. "I''m good now! Heaven''s stormy sea, that was worse than sailing through a thunderstorm!"

    \u003cClean\u003e

    Flora cast the spell repeatedly. She didn''t want to leave a bad first impression with the cat lady.

    When they walked around the corner, they saw a player presenting the sack to a withered Woodling granny sitting on the front porch. The granny scoffed and emptied the sack. Then the player walked away.

    "Greetings, fair lady! Here are the most delicious snacks for your adorable cats!" Eddie said and gave her the sack.

    The granny scoffed and emptied the sack. "My cats want to eat crab and not crap. Bring me some crab meat!"

    "Here you are." Flora handed over her sack.

    The granny scoffed and emptied the sack. "My cats want to eat crab and not crap. Bring me some crab meat!"

    Quest: Take ten pieces of crab meat to Granny Boba.

    Description: Visit Granny Boba in her cottage at the beach of the town Swell and give her the ten pieces of crab meat. Hint: You can find crabs on the coasts of Swell.

    Rewards: Follow Quest

    Penalty: none.

    Difficulty: D.

    Flora looked at the floor, but instead of finding a hill of discarded cat food, it was clean enough to eat from it.

    "Does your porch eat crap?"

    "Just ignore it, love. It''s video game logic."

    "Cats have it all ¨C admiration, an endless sleep, and company only when they want it. ? Rod McKuen" The granny nodded, patting a ginger cat.

    "Nice quote. Here''s one of mine: To set but a low value upon toast is to expose one''s deficiencies in right appreciation. ? E.V. Lucas"

    "Let''s go," Eddie said.

    "Way down deep, we''re all motivated by the same urges. Cats have the courage to live by them. ¨C Jim Davis" The granny nodded again.

    "If toast always lands butter-side down, and cats always land on their feet, what happens if you strap toast on the back of a cat and drop it? ¨C Stefen Write" Flora counter-quoted.

    Just when Eddie pulled Flora away, the Granny looked at her, and suddenly, there was a spark in her eyes. "The cat would win, of course, and land on her feet."

    "Don''t underestimate the might of buttered toast?" Flora started to argue, but Eddie picked her up in a fireman''s carry. Taking off the mech-suit that the Mover could transport Eddie had been a mistake!

    \u003cSuit up\u003e

    Poor Eddie buckled under her weight and set her down. "Flora, love, you can''t win an argument against an NPC!"

    "Aidan, set him straight!"

    "My esteemed owner can win any and all arguments about toasters, no matter the opponent. Not only because of her immense wisdom and stubbornness but also because of the inherent superiority of toasters to any other subject." Aidan sounded from the loudspeakers of the Mover.

    Flora smirked, and Eddie facepalmed, but Flora could see him smiling between his fingers.

    "Let''s kill some crabs." Eddie looked over the beach. The Earthling woman, they had met at the cottage, and some other players were fighting with crabs. "We have to walk a bit farther. The competition is too strong."

    "Why don''t we fly?" Flora jumped into the Mover.

    Eddie didn''t honor the comment with a reply. He started walking away without even looking at Flora.

    Chuckling, Flora hovered next to him.

 155 2.59 Questing â€“ Killing Production Line

    "It''s efficient."

    "This should be a hunting trip, but you turned it into a slaughterhouse production line," Eddie protested.

    Flora nodded, satisfied.

    The Octopussy shot the crabs and ran back into the reach of the Accordion-Golem''s hatchets. The golem pulled them towards the Mover, who killed them, then the Golly dissected them. Flora helped out when one of the stations in her killing line was overworked but mainly scrolled through "1000 Homemaker Spells" searching for a crab processing spell.

    The glowing piles of loot accumulated in front of the Mover. Flora was too lazy to bend down, so she changed positions with the Octopussy, which had access to her inventory.

    "Alright. I''ll stop complaining, but I will decide on how we tackle the next quest."

    "Deal!" Flora agreed and went back to her reading now that First Mate, Eddie''s AI and Octopussy, helped attract more crabs. Eddie fought with a saber and an old-timey pistole. Additionally, he used a grappling hook to pull the Octopussies'' crabs to the killing area.

    \u003cSkin\u003e!

    The spell had no effect¡­ "Okay, carapaces don''t count as valid targets, how about \u003cButcher\u003e!"

    The spell puffed out on a crab with an intact carapace but worked fine separating the innards and the flesh from one with an already opened shell.

    \u003cSalvage: Animals\u003e!

    The bones, the shell, the pincers, meat, roe, and gore formed yellow glowing piles and some of the flesh an orange glowing pile. Flora cast Identify on the orange mass.

    ***************

    Quest-Item: Piece of Crab Meat

    Quest: Take ten pieces of crab meat to Granny Boba

    ***************

    "Your spell doesn''t separate the brown from the white meat," Eddie said. "Both are delicious, but I prefer white meat for salads and brown meat for soup."

    "I didn''t even know that there was brown crab meat. Let me try again. I can exert a bit of control over the channeled spell."

    \u003cSalvage: Animals\u003e!

    Now, the three types of meat piles appeared.

    "Nice! I''m already drooling. I''ll make us some delicious crab cake! What a bummer that it''s only D-rated."

    Flora pointed at the shore behind Eddie. "You summoned it!" She said with a weak smile.

    The nice aspect of the giant crab walking out of the ocean was its bathtub-sized body. All the delicious meat it would contain! Flora concentrated very hard on that aspect because the horrible part, its spider legs, elevated its beady eyes (and delicious body) higher than Flora. She felt pretty neutral about the three-meter long pincers, maybe even a bit appreciating because it brought the limb count up from the execrable eight to ten.

    "Come to Papa!" Eddie exclaimed, running to the monster with saliva flying from his mouth, "Come into Papa''s frying pan!"

    \u003cTransfer STA: Mover\u003e

    (Left Hand, channeling) \u003cLightning Beam\u003e

    The Octopussies joined the fight without being asked, the Accordion-Golem had the standing instruction to heal any group members, but the Golly needed her encouragement before it pelted out Ice Bolts.

    "One leg for salad!" Eddie said as he severed the leg from the body, narrowingly avoiding the pincer.

    (Right hand:) \u003cWater Shield: Shiny Frenemy\u003e

    "Use the chain of the hatchet to wrap up a pincer and some legs, dear," Flora ordered the Accordion-Golem.

    Flora''s eyes flitted between the combat and the health displays of Eddie, the Mover and the Accordion-Golem on her HUD. "That''s too stressful for poor me. Aito, mark a party member with a green arrow if they have less than half of their HP left."

    "I can display their pool values above their heads, Milady, as we did while training."

    "Do it only while in combat. Add the bars of the monsters, too."

    "One leg for sushi!" Eddie hacked off another leg.

    The screeching propellors of the blenders produced sparks against the shell. Flora pitied the Mover that its first enemies were so unsuited for its melee weapons, although Aidan tried to use them well by targeting the eyes and joints. Nonetheless, the laser cannons left smoking gashes in the shell. When Aidan deflected a pincer, it got stuck in the propellors. The claw only pulled free after the shell splintered with a cracking noise.

    (Right hand:) \u003cOvercharge Regular Mode: Mover\u003e

    Flora had problems casting the Command. Usually, she channeled it over her nocks into the robot, but this time it had to flow to the Accordion-Golem and from there over its Establish Connection. When it reached the Mover, the skill had lost much of its impact.

    "What is taking so long?" Flora asked when she saw that the crab still had 50% of its HP left.

    "The Spider Knight Crab has a very high defense, and don''t forget the increased HP of B rated enemies, Milady. I estimate it has around 7000 HP."

    "You just want to be nice and not call Eddie out for not pulling his weight," Flora said, jokingly.

    The Crab jumped into the air and squashed the melee fighters under it.

    "Unfortunately, the crab knows how to pull its weight!" Flora added, wide-eyed.

    (Right hand, channeled) \u003cMetal Healing Rain\u003e!

    The Accordion and the Mover fell under 50% HP, but Eddie''s health bar barely dented, although Flora couldn''t spot his body under the crab.

    However, Eddie might have been lucky because when the crab legs pierced the area around its body in a deadly tap-dance, the uncovered tail of the Mover received a wide gash.

    The crab stood up, and its beady eyes fixated on Flora.

    "Uh-oh."

    (Right hand:) \u003cFade\u003e

    To Flora''s relief, it concentrated on the Mover again.

    "The aggro reset after it stood up, Milady. However, with your continued channeling of Lightning Arc, you generated enough for the Mover to attain its attention. Shiny Frenemy has nearly 30 percent of the contribution. That''s very good compared to the other people you have grouped with."

    "I was jesting. Or maybe more exactly, I threw shade because I''m miffed. I didn''t appreciate him dragging me around like a doll. Although making mean jokes isn''t the right way to vent my displeasure, I have to admit."

    The elders and their companions killed the crab after Flora healed up everybody enough not to panic about their wellbeing.

    "Eddie, please don''t pull me around anymore. We can talk it out if you want to go in a different direction than me, okay?"

    Eddie had just plucked another leg from the dead crab and now looked at it, the monster and Flora. " You don''t have to be afraid that when I''m pulling your leg, it will come off. You are much more sturdy than that crab, love."

    "You may still pull my leg metaphorically, but not my arm physically¡­"

    Comprehension dawned on Eddie''s face. "Oh! Yes, sure. I''m sorry, love. All the excitement from my Hero''s Entrance carried me away¡­ and inspired me to carry you away. Our deal that I can decide our next attacking strategy still stands? I''m willing to give you one Flora-killing-factory free?"

    "Sure. I''m taking the last one as a voucher, and when I see an especially nice quest for the Flora approach, I''ll cash it in."

    After they harvested the giant crab, they handed in the quest.

    "I see you aren''t as useless as you look! If you do my cats one more favor, I might teach you to move like a supreme being." The cat lady gave them another quest after they agreed. "Pearly''s favorite scratching tree was stolen by those lousy pirate-wannabees. Retrieve it for my sweet darling."

    Quest: Retrieve the Scratching Tree for Granny Boba.

    Description: Return the Scratching Tree that Squack''s Crew had stolen to Granny Boba. Hint: You can find Squack''s Crew in the Cave of Squack at the coasts of Swell.

    Rewards: Follow Quest

    Penalty: none.

    Difficulty: B.

    RGS: 3

    Flora left the woman without any banter.

    "I have picked up two other quests for Squack''s Cave. I''ll share them with you."

    Quest: Bounty: Pirate-Parrot Menance

    Description: Kill at least 10 pirate-parrots of Squack''s crew. Hint: You can find Squack''s Crew in the Cave of Squack at the coasts of Swell.

    Rewards: 10 credits bounty per D rated pirate-parrot. 50 credits bounty per C rated pirate-parrot.

    Penalty: none.

    Difficulty: C.

    Quest: Bounty: Pirate Parrot Captain Squack. Hint: You can find Squack in the Cave of Squack at the coasts of Swell.

    Description: Kill Squack.

    Rewards: 1000 credits bounty.

    Penalty: none.

    Difficulty: B.

    RGS: 3

    "What a coincidence! I love toasting three rolls with one toaster!"

    Eddie chuckled. "Piling a few quests into one location is pretty common for games. If you ever get a nonsensical quest with a too high rating?like B for fetching a scratching post?you can be sure that someone else has a request connecting to it. At least that''s the case with most MMOs."

    "So, how do we find the cave?"

    "We have to search the coast for it." Eddie shrugged.

    "I have the coordinates from the forum, Milady. It is located 4 kilometers to the west."

    "Noooo, Aidan! You spoiled it! Sometimes you''ll find amazing things if you stray! Searching for a quest objective is an adventure in itself!" Eddie complained.

    "You are the commander for this mission, dear. If you say we search in the east, I''ll do it!" Flora said with a face that screamed heroic sacrifice.

    "Now that I know about the location, it''s too late. I can''t ignore it. Let''s head west."

    Flora convinced Eddie to enter the Mover again when she promised him only to hover. In no time, they reached a rocky cliff face.

    "Great, the entrance has to be hidden! Don''t spoil it, Aidan! We''ll find it without your help." Eddie rubbed his hands.

    Flora was torn whether she should tell him that she spotted a magical aura from one of the boulders leaning onto the cliff.

    "Oh! I know a handy spell for looking for magic! Maybe the entrance is hidden by mystic powers?" Flora intoned.

    Eddie narrowed his eyes at Flora''s bad acting. "You already found it, right?"

    "I found something suspicious, at least." Flora pointed at the rock. "Maybe it''s connected to our quest, or maybe not. I swear Aidan didn''t say anything."

    "Okay, that''s fair. Let''s check it out."

    The Mover glided over the sallow water to the boulder.

    \u003cAstral Vision\u003e

    Under the spell, the boulder grew transparent, and an opening to the cliff appeared behind the illusion.

    Aidan navigated the Mover through it into a narrow tunnel.

    Zone Information

    Name: Cave of Squack

    Color: Yellow

    Level Cap: 2

    Enemies

    - Defeat: Death

    - Cornered: 30 min

    - Drop: 0%

    Neutral

    - Defeat: Defeat

    - Cornered: 15 min

    - Drop: 0%

    Friends

    - Defeat: Defeat

    - Cornered: 5 min

    - Drop: 0%

    Automatic Reputation Losses

    - Killing Pollies

    - Looting pirates

    - Parroting parrots

    "Stop!" Eddie said.

    Flowing Flowers to Aidan: "Eddie is the boss for this quest. Please listen to him if it doesn''t contradict my wishes¡­ let''s say my orders ¡­ no let''s say his orders ¡­ whatever, I''m sorry, dear. We will survive! Or check out the loser''s corner!"

    "We will sneakingly disembark and carefully advance," Eddie said while jumping out of the Mover. He dove into the water without making a splash.

    Flora knew she couldn''t imitate him without making a racket and used levitate to lower herself. Unfortunately, she couldn''t breach the water surface with it, so she still made some noise hitting it.

    Eddie glared at her.

    "What has your knickers in a twist?" Flora whispered. Normally, Eddie was an imperturbable gentleman, but today he acted frantically. "You are behaving like a clam in a pressure cooker."

    "I''m in an existential crisis!" He whispered back. The aggression in his stance morphed to torment. "The evil game spoiled my pirate aspirations!"

    "No! How dare it?"

    "Shush! I was on a trader ship, and pirates raided it. They slaughtered the crew and offered the passengers to join them or die. I accepted, then initiated a mutiny and captured the ship."

    "Nice, Captain!" Flora whispered.

    "Yeah, being a pirate captain has been my life long dream, if you disregarded my rebellious teenager phase when I admired the Royal Navy."

    Flora giggled but toned it down when Eddie laid a finger across his lips and continued speaking quietly, "Congrats on fulfilling your life''s ambition. So, where is your ship? Can you give me a tour?"

    "Hey friends, you are blocking the tunnel." A voice boomed from behind.

    "Shush!" Flora and Eddie said.

 156 2.60 Questing â€“ Cavern of Squack

    "I guess we can forget a stealthy approach, now," Eddie said when the group had overtaken them. "Let''s follow and see how making a racket goes for them."

    "Sure. Are you diverting me from the subject? I still don''t understand want went wrong with your Hero''s Entrance. Did System steal your ship?"

    The tunnel opened into a cave. Footbridges with a few boats docked branched off the shore. Chubby green parrots wearing bandanas bustled on them while red parrots with pirate hats flew through the cave, carrying parcels.

    Eddie signaled Flora to stop. "The ceiling in the tunnel is lower. I feel safer here until I know whether the boys trigger a reenactment of the movie Birds." Eddie said. "And no, I gave up my vessel willingly."

    "Warning! Warning! Intruder alert!" A parrot with a yellow belly and azure feathers croaked.

    Name: Narc Polly

    Type: Pirate-Parrot of Squack''s Crew

    Level: 1

    Rating: E

    The owlish green dock-worker parrots closest to the look-out stopped their work and looked around. Immediately, they spotted the three guys climbing out of the water and waddled towards them.

    Name: Docky Polly

    Type: Pirate-Parrot of Squack''s Crew

    Level: 2

    Rating: D

    "Warning! Warning! Intruder alert!" The yellow and azure plumaged Polly bawled.

    The cowboy-hat guy shot the Narc Polly, and it tumbled off the pole, but even more Docky Pollies took notice. They swarmed the poor guys.

    "Oh, dear. Should we help them?" Flora asked. The birds weren''t strong with an RGS of 1, but the boys had dozens of them pecking at them. It didn''t help that the beaks were at the height of their crotches.

    "Only when they ask for it. Kill stealing is bad form." Eddie answered.

    "Did you make up the expression ''kill stealing''?" Flora said. That was the most macho combination of words she had heard in a long time.

    "No." Eddie smirked. "In other RPGs, the guy?or girl or other? who gets the last hit was attributed the kill. So people were pretty miffed when they fought a few minutes, and then a rogue materialized and took the kill from them. In the Cetviwos, it''s all about contribution. So if we go in with blazing blenders, we would probably contribute more than them, and the pirate-parrots won''t count for their bounty-quest."

    One of the guys yelped several octaves higher than his gender suggested. The cowboy hat rained bullets while hiding behind the third guy who spun around with a greatsword. "Yes, we would definitely steal their contribution."

    Flora grinned. "Throwing the shade, Mr. Burn." She chirped, and Eddie winked at her.

    Eddie swam to the far end of the cave. Nearby, two boats with Docky Pollies were tied to the dock, and a Narc Polly was sitting on a pole. His old-timey gun boomed, and the Narc Polly fell into the water before it could even open its beak.

    Flora expected the dockworkers to get spooked by the gun sound, but they never stopped bustling.

    "Mob groups are usually linked. If you touch one of them, all will aggro. If you attack and keep your distance, they will ignore you. The Narc Polly is a special kind of mob. It will alert all nearby parrots."

    "You lost me on the mob issue. They are pirates, right, and not mafiosi?"

    Eddie inspected her calmly. "No. They are all part of the mafia; every monster in the Cetviwos is. They will extort you for your life and monetas!" He said seriously.

    "And who is the godfather?"

    "We don''t know. Anyone could be it." Eddie looked at Flora like she was a premier suspect.

    "You are pulling my leg, right?"

    "I got you? I totally did!" Eddie burst into a fit of giggles.

    Flora shrugged and smiled mysteriously. "Did you? Or maybe I''m the godmother of the mobs and want you to think that."

    "Nah. Mob is the short form of mobile. Gamers use the term for computer-controlled NPCs." Eddie paused. "Okay, some mobs do act strangely around you. Maybe you are their godmother?"

    Flora looked at the ceiling, whistling the theme song of the movie The Godfather.

    "Nevertheless. The narc is dead, so we''ll pull every group separately. By pulling, I mean attracting them to an advantaged location. You never fight mobs where they are because of patrols. Do you see those Carrier Pollies flying between the boats? They might join in. And when they are close enough to a second group, they might aggro as well."

    "So aggro is a bit like a virus? You always have to keep the distance between groups, and if someone comes between them, it can spread?"

    "You can see it like this. I''m not sure if the green Pollies leave their boats. We''ll try it out." Eddie went near the wall. "Normally, tanks use line of sight, or LOS, pulling. They hit the group and hide behind a corner. So even if the group contains ranged mobs, they have to approach. We don''t have a corner here, but from what I''ve seen in their fight with the boys, the Docky Pollies are melee fighters."

    "Alright. Do you have the skill Transfer Aggro? You may use the Mover as a tank and aggro recipient."

    Eddie didn''t know about the skill, and Flora told him about it and the Sweeping Blow Aptitude Test.

    "On ''Go'' we rain on the nearest boat," Eddie said. "Three, Two, One, Go!"

    (Right Hand:) \u003cTransfer AoE: Mover\u003e

    (Left Hand:) \u003cLightning Storm\u003e

    (Right Hand:) \u003cHail\u003e

    The Golly joined in with Hail and Eddie with Acid Rain. The robots used their laser guns.

    The poor parrots dropped the sacks and shuffled towards the rim of the boat. They weren''t fast in the best of times. With Hail slowing them and the Lightning Storm shocking them, they didn''t make any progress.

    Five seconds later, they were dead without ever leaving the boat.

    Flora glanced towards the three boys. She couldn''t see their HP but hoped it was fuller than their ragged appearance suggested. They were still fighting, but only three parrots remained.

    "Great. Next group." Eddie said and moved a bit closer to the next boat. Flora noticed that he stayed precisely 15 meters away, the max range for spells.

    They repeated the same strategy for the next group of dockworkers. Flora used Access Leyline instead of Transfer AoE to conserve mana. The latter was on Cooldown and unnecessary due to the Pollies dying so fast.

    While Flora applauded the efficiency of the approach, it lacked Eddie''s usual flair. She glanced at him but couldn''t discern any other emotion than concentration. On the one hand, she wanted to know what bothered him; on the other hand, she had sufficiently signaled her interest and willingness to listen. Any more would be nagging and she had reserved nagging for her desire for grandchildren. Until now, the situation wasn''t dire enough to deviate.

    Instead, Flora concentrated on their current adventure. Working, giant parrots in pirate attire seemed to be a tad unusual. Not that she was judging. And they were definitely less remarkable than rabid trashcans. Just to make sure that they weren''t shape-changing pirates, she cast Salvage Animal on a few.

    After they cleared the next boat, the docks were free of parrots up to the resting three-boy team. Eddie jumped onto the gangway, and Flora followed him.

    \u003cPower-Jump\u003e

    "Squawk!"

    A Carrier Polly had spotted them. It dropped the satchel it had been carrying on Golly.

    Two Octopussies, one Golly, one Mover, one grandparent, and one auntie who wished she was a grandparent fired spells and lasers at the flying parrot.

    It flapped its wings, and a gust of air whipped the team.

    Thanks to the heavy mech-suit, Flora had no problems with it. However, the blast threw the golly and Eddie''s Octopussy into the water and rattled Eddie and the Mover. Aito''s Octopussy had gripped a pole and continued to bombard the Polly with Rapid Fire.

    Flora used lightning and ice again, and the bird started to slow down. It still conjured gusts, but less frequently. As frost was coating the wings, its flight became unsteady. When the Golly''s ice spells joined Flora''s, the bird had to land.

    It waddled to Flora, and she killed it with a kick.

    The group passed the three boys and ventured deeper into the cave, killing all the Pollies on the way.

    The gangway branched off, and Eddie always took the left turn.

    "The right way is left." He said and winked when Flora asked him about it. "It''s an old adventurer tradition when exploring mazes or tunnel systems."

    "I wonder why? I can see that if you always turn left, you decrease the chance of losing your way. But why not right?" Flora said. "Oh, I know. Probably because most people are righties, if they creep around the corner to their left, they lead with their weapon side. You''re a lefty, though."

    "Interesting, I never questioned the tradition. You might be on to something. The strategy works well in finding the middle of a labyrinth, too."

    As they proceeded, they found signs of recent fights and areas without any Pollies. Of course, they met other groups, too. Nobody challenged them when they passed. To Flora''s astonishment, many just sat on the planks, eating, drinking, and chatting.

    "So many of the young people are picnicking. It''s not the most romantic location. There might be benefits to snacking here." Flora said and fetched a cheese toast to test it out.

    "They are just regenerating their pool values, love," Eddie said, grinning. "It''s a common issue in most games, at least for some builts."

    Flora shook her head. The mix of walking and fighting already aggravated her; if she had to take breaks on top of it, she would retire from adventuring. Either just walking would be nicer or more combat. The strange mixture of stop and go made it difficult to get into a rhythm.

    At last, they reached an extensive cave. A sailing ship docked at the end of the pier with several players lounging on its deck.

    "Hey, you''re here for Squack, too?" A girl said to them.

    "Indeed we are, young lady," Eddie answered with his movie-star smile.

    The girl blushed and waved her hand.

    ****************

    Elishara Grandwitch invites you to their party.

    Do you want to join?

    (Y/N)

    ****************

    Flora accepted when Eddie nodded to her. "Thank you, that''s nice of you. You shouldn''t have. We may not look like it, but we are quite capable!"

    "Uhm, sure. It''s just more practical. The bird needs 15 minutes to respawn, and you would have to wait if you didn''t join. By then, the next group may have arrived, and who knows if they are nice enough to talk it out or just steal the kill."

    Flora felt enlightened. Waiting in line to kill something was a novel concept.

    "Just fire at when it appears," Eddie said. "With this many comrades, we don''t have to care about tactics."

    "Who dares to step on Captain Squack''s boat?" A voice boomed from the ceiling of the cave, and a car-sized parrot flew toward them. The bird looked like someone had asked him what pirate identifier he wanted: Captain''s hat, bandana, hook-hand (in his case hooks at the tips of his wings), peg-leg, striped shirt or eye-patch, and he had answered with "Yes" or maybe "Aye".

    Name: Pirate Parrot Captain Squack

    Class: Pirate Captain of Squack''s Crew

    Level: 2

    Rating: B

    RGS: 3

    The players sprang into action and aimed their guns and bows at the bird. When it came into rifle range, Flora activated her rocket launcher.

    \u003cSet Mark\u003e

    \u003cPower Shot\u003e

    As soon as the bird reached spell range, Flora switched to two Astral Spring-powered Ice Beams. The players around her threw everything they had on the parrot.

    When it swooped down, Flora wasn''t worried. There were so many other attackers around her. Why should it choose her?

    However, the bird seemed to have settled its flight path destination to her. Flora took three steps to the right, and it corrected its course.

    Flora''s mind went into overdrive while her arms were still extended and ejected Ice Beams on autopilot. Should she Fade? Cast a shield? Which one? Her new favorite! Roll away? Hop overboard? Blame Eddie for everything horrible in life? Yes!

    \u003cIce Beam\u003e \u003cFade\u003e \u003cEddie Stinks\u003e \u003cIce Shield Cyclone\u003e \u003cI bow to you and roll with it\u003e!

    As Flora dived, frosty shields exploded out of her. Most hit the parrot captain like shuriken; others cycled around the group of players, and one hit Eddie on the head.