Continue Online (Book 1, Memories) (53 page)

“
You
probably didn’t ask the right people. Attitude doesn't get you
far around here.” Wyl said without even a trace of a frown. He
was unfazed by the bundle of anger.

“
Will
you be done by tomorrow?” My body was feeling the weight of
today's excursions. Both hands used the cane as a third leg.

“
I’ll
send a squad on an overnight with her. It’ll be a good change
for all of them.” The trademark smile was still mostly present
on Wyl's face.

“
Think
you got someone who can keep her in line?” I lifted the cane in
a halfhearted gesture towards HotPants. The other players were in the
background arguing over something still. They had barely taken notice
of our stop.

“
Probably
not. But if she steps too far out, she’ll die. The aggressive
ones normally solve their own problems.”

“
Mh.”
I turn to HotPants and glare for a moment.

“
If
you die tomorrow, you won’t be able to recover in time. You
best be careful.”

“
As
if I need a computer to be concerned for my well-being.”

I
shrugged in response. Her commentary against me was both amusing and
annoying. Amusing because she thought I was a computer, but annoying
for the same reason. My acting as William Carver had flaws, but he
was a person too!

“
Most
Travelers find death unpleasant, you’ll learn soon enough,”
Wyl said.

“
Pain
is a great teacher.” Old Man Carver's simulated heart attacks
were enough to send me to my knees. I can’t imagine death felt
any better. The only blessing would be if it was sudden and not
lingering.

“
Why
does a video game have pain?” SweetPea was paying attention
now.

“
Because
it’s awesome.” Awesome Jr. whispered.

“
No
pain, no gain,” Shadow affirmed. “Check out Stanford's
study on the Pain Response and Learning in a Virtual Simulation.”

“
Two
hours from now I’ll send a group out. You get whatever you
think you need together and be here in an hour thirty. We’ll
need time to go over whatever supplies you missed.” Wyl was
already issuing orders, which seemed to grind HotPants' gears
something fierce. She suffered through in stride with a curt nod and
charged off.

“
See
you tomorrow!” SweetPea gave an impressive yell for her
personality. I shrugged and went over my mental map for other
possible training locations.

“
Got
anything for more speed?” Shadow was busy pulling at pieces of
his gear and frowning. His shirt seemed to be riding up under the
overlay of armor.

“
I
thought you didn’t need anything.”

“
I
don’t. But I’ll take anything you’ve got.”
The wannabe assassin growled at my snide remark.

“
I
know a man who's really good at teaching young cocky boys how to
dress.” He would outfit the player in literal dresses with
makeup and everything. There was nothing in my book against
cross-dressing, but I imagine it was a surprise if revealed at the
wrong moment.

He
actually looked thoughtful for a moment. I sighed, the youngster
probably thought it was a disguise art of some sort. He clearly
seemed to be going the extra mile for his ninja image. I briefly
compiled a list of possible skills needed for a Ninja Path, assuming
there was such a thing. It seemed very like that there was.

“
No,
if we’re going into a dungeon, I need speed or stealth. Both
preferably.” Shadow was at least certain in what he wanted to
take away from this game. Many players lacked the drive he displayed.

“
Mh.”
I hummed and pulled out the map. Skills that combined traits were
harder to nail down on the map. Often times they required the players
to actively combine tasks.

“
You
should follow the recruits around,” Wyl said.

“
What?
What do you mean?”

“
New
guards, I send them out on running laps around the town with their
armor on. It helps build their endurance, especially for the ones
bucking for a promotion to a knight squad.” Wyl's face shone
with a smile. There was a glint of pride in his eyes. Carver's, my
screen, popped up a message about Wyl's pride in his former students
successes. There was even a count of how many former soldiers and
Traveler trainees went onto to other occupations.

“
That’s
cruel,” SweetPea said.

“
It’s
effective, you should try it too little miss. Travelers should take
advantage of everything they can.” The guard captain said.

“
So
you think I should follow a guard around?” Shadow turned the
conversation back to his own personal needs. One hand fiddled with
the dagger at his hip idly. I could see Wyl keeping an eye out, but
he didn’t seem too worried.

“
Let’s
make a game of it, you give the guard a short head start, then try to
trail him without getting caught.”

“
What
do I get out of it?”

“
You
win, I’ll give you a handful of silver per person. You lose,
and my trainee gets to stop their lap and come on back.”

“
They’ll
accept that?”

“
It’s
a big town,” Wyl said with a faint smile.

“
I’m
in. We doing this all night?” The would-be assassin also looked
pleased but for entirely selfish reasons.

“
Nighttime
patrols will change a little because of the risk, we’ll see how
you do on the first few.” The captain shrugged. He didn’t
seem overly worried either way. “I’ve got other ideas to
keep it interesting if it’s too easy.”

“
Awesome.”

“
Awesome's
my father.” Awesome Jr. was smiling too. How many times could
he play that joke before becoming annoying?

“
Shut
up.” Shadow scowled for a moment, looking remarkably similar to
HotPants level of anger. “Wyl right? Thanks for this, it sounds
fun and like a good training method.”

“
It’ll
help my men learn a few skills too, spotting a trail is good for
undercover work if any of them want to join a King's Inquisition.”

“
What’s
that?” Shadow asked.

“
Wyl,
I’m going to drag these other two onward. Thank you for your
time.”

“
Oh,
right, here I am gabbing away. Anytime, Carver. You keep in good
health.” Wyl didn’t seem done, though. His mouth kept
right on running as he slowly came to our side of the guard post and
put an arm on my shoulder.

“
Me
and the boy saw your posting, and the ladies in the temple are in a
tizzy over your recent actions. I said to them, let an old man do
what he wants with the twilight years. It’s what I’d
want.”

I
nodded.

“
Let
me die with a sword in my hand and a prayer on my lips. Not a whimper
in my bed.” Wyl shook his head and looked sad for a moment.
This became one of the few times I saw him without a smile of some
sort.

“
Sounds
like a good plan.” The people in this world were lucky that
way. In the real world, we rarely had a warrior's way out. Modern
medicine kept the old alive and feeble. Carver would want to go out
with a bang, not a whisper. That’s exactly what William Carver,
what I, would do.

“
Hah!
Carver, whatever you’ve cooked up, you give ‘em hell for
me!”

“
I
will Wyl.” Saying that was almost a miniature tongue twister.
Wyl went from hot to cold very quickly depending on who he was
talking to. His minions, I mean lesser guards, were treated very
different from an old war buddy.

At
least I think that’s what our relationship was. The notes
needed another review. This world had thrown some many bits of
information at me that I was nearly drowning. Work tomorrow would
suck simply because of the mundane nature in comparison.

A
few more dominoes left. Then we would see where everything fell.
Thank goodness the Voice of Gambling and his negative buff hadn’t
impacted Old Man Carver's stats. Being this tired and walking around
with nagging pain everywhere was enough of a punishment.

If
I could use Carver's skills to the fullest, without negative side
effects, then clearing this dungeon would be easy. Speaking of cake,
where was the
[Messenger's Pet]
?

“
Mister
Carver, sir.” SweetPea sounded demure again. It was annoying
and sort of cute at the same time.

“
What
is it?” I grumbled.

“
Do
you have any suggestions for me?”

“
Nope.
You need to figure out what you want for yourself. Not me. No one is
required to follow a path. You make a choice and work hard.”
Not once had I forced any player to learn a skill, aside from
whatever resulted from the introduction quests.

“
I
only know how to clean.” She sounded sad and pulled the hoodie
down even more.

“
Your
meatloaf was really good, Melissa.”

“
Thanks,
Adam.”

“
Maybe
I should leave you two alone.” Carver was very good at sounding
grumpy, even if I personally felt like teasing people. It came out
that way.

“
No,
it’s okay, Carver. We should try to do something to help make
this better. None of the other players even tried to help you with
the flier, so I feel kind of bad forcing you to figure out something
on your own.”

I
was completely stunned by Awesome Jr.’s statement. While it was
true that no one had really tried to help me, the fact that he felt
guilt towards an NPC was almost overpowering. My rueful grin at his
new pop-up box was response enough. From this angle, I could easily
see the reputation with ‘William (Old Man) Carver’
increase and wasn’t even upset. Awesome Jr. had been serious
about it.

I
nodded again.

“
Did
you still want to learn magic?”

“
I
tried that and failed.” His head actually dipped and hung in
depression.

“
Who
did you talk to?”

“
Shandra
Tull, she was the one my quest chain led to.” SweetPea was
looking at Awesome Jr. with one eyebrow high under her hood.

“
Yeah.
She was nice and gave me a few books, but nothing clicked.”