Town Builder

Chapter 32: Grinding with Grinder

I was dead? Did that mean my consciousness was all digital? If I was dead, why was I having a panic attack right now? I couldn’t speak or move, and if I had a heart, it would beat faster than a snare drum solo.

“Mate, you alright?” Mad Dog asked.

Grinder followed up, “You still have a body. Just declared legally dead and in a coma with no brain activity. Our friends on the outside did a search. And damn, man, running into a burning building. We watched the video, and it was epic. Our hearts were wrenched when we saw you about to jump out the window and then fall through the floor. The firefighters arrived a few minutes later, foamed the building, and pulled you out. The puppy lived, by the way. Just some burns.” He paused, and his retelling gave me flashbacks to the incident.

“Yeah,” I huffed. “I thought I was running in to save a kid. But all I found was the puppy, and I wasn’t going to leave it behind. Glad the puppy lived,” next time, I will ask questions before going blindly in. I gazed off into the distance.

When I seemed to recover, he continued with more bad news, “So Tallis, your family terminated your life support.” I nodded, vaguely remembering it. “But you refused to go quietly into that good night, man! We found a news story 19 years later about a company buying up coma patients under the new Corpus Eternium law, and you were listed there.”

Wait… what? I was in a coma for 19 years…that made me 39? 40? He continued as I was internally processing. “That company built the technology for this game. They were mapping coma patients' brains to create matrixes for micro AI. Those are little ping-pong-sized processors with flashing lights. Due to the restrictions on AI in world law, they could only use AI in robots and self-contained environments offline. This game allowed them to utilize their AI for potentially massive profit.”

“So I am alive somewhere in the real world and just brain dead?” That didn’t make much sense, as I had memories.

“Uh, I didn’t really understand the science. But about 30 years ago, it was discovered that brain activity was so slow in most coma patients that it was not detectable. So not really brain-dead, per se. Maybe brain deficient?” He chuckled. “Your family and the hospital received quite the sum for your body, if that makes you feel any better?” Grinder added cheerfully.

“So, what do I do? Any advice?” I asked, currently at a loss as I was apparently property and not a person.

“I talked briefly with my friends on the outside, and we can hire you a lawyer with your funds to get you moved back to the realm of the living…at least on paper. Don’t know how much it will cost, but a dead person can’t have a bank account. If we opened an account for you, it would revert to your closest living relative.” Grinder finished.

I didn’t ask if my parents or two sisters were still alive. I was feeling a little bitter. Not only had they pulled the plug on me, but they also sold my body to science.

“Yeah,” I said with clear exhaustion in my voice. “Find a lawyer to resurrect me.”

“Um, one more thing Tallis. This has happened before. And umm. Well, legally, the company that currently ‘owns’ your body has the right to retroactive compensation for caring for it. The last case placed that at $5 million per year…and it has been just under five years since they took possession of it.”

Damn it! I was now 45 years old and in debt for $25 million? This was turning out to be a very bad day. “What about inflation, I asked, hopefully?” Maybe $25 million was closer to $10.00 when I was alive.

Mad Dog answered as Grinder looked confused at my question, “Not much. International finance laws have locked inflation down. Once they eliminated all cryptocurrency, it hasn’t been over 0.5% annually in decades. The banks screamed foul, but once the entire world accepted a single currency, it became easier to control. If I had to guess, since you went into your coma…maybe 70 to 80%, which is tiny for a 45-year span. I used to be a finance broker, but there was not much money in it, so I am a gamer now!”

Well, shit. 70-80% meant I owed 14 to 15 million in terms of funds based on when I died. “I need to go kill something,” I announced. “Still interested in the dungeon?”

The mood had been somber as we had talked. “Fuck ya, mate! That’s the spirit!” Mad Dog said. Black Beauty had joined us and finally finished with her potion purchases.

We all went to the inn for a meal to get buffs. I changed into my adventuring gear. The meal we got from Fareth was her meat pie, which gave a 100% bonus to all pool regeneration for four hours. It tasted slightly different, even better than last time, so she must have altered the recipe slightly.

“So Tallis, let’s review a few things. Have you been in a party before?” Mad Dog asked. I shook my head to the negative. “Okay, I will send you a party invite.” The invite hit my notifications, and I accepted it.

“Good. The problem we will run into is the level difference. Experience is awarded based on damage dealt and level differential. The game mechanics prevent high-level characters from power-leveling lower levels. For you to get the experience, you will need to be 100 yards away from us. At that range, we cannot collect any experience for kills, so it will all revert to you.” Mad Dog lectured. “Once you get within 20 levels of our highest party member, you will start getting a small percentage of party experience, and we can adventure together.”

I was confused. “How is this all going to work in the dungeon? I mean, keeping a hundred yards apart?” Grouping with other players was completely new to me.

Grinder answered, “Most dungeon levels are open land landscapes. At least that was our experience from the two we tried and what we have read on the wikis.” Grinder was on his third pie. Since I was paying, he was not holding back his appetite.

“What about my gear? Is it good enough?” I asked.

Black Beauty studied me, “Sorry, I have the highest analyze skill in the group, but I get that your gear descriptions are blocked. It says, You cannot analyze gear on the town’s lord. Must be a game mechanic to protect you while in town.”

“Oh. I will drop them into a window so you can see them.” I spent a brief minute putting my item descriptions in a viewable window for them.

“This format is too hard to read. Here, look at this setting and show only these things. No need to show the durability to us, but set the alerts here so you know when you need to get repairs done. My alerts are set for when an item falls under 85%, 50%, and 10%.” Mad Dog worked with me to set a preset worn inventory page. I completed it and sent it to them again.

Ring 1

Ring 2

18

Ivory Ring of Deep Magic, +8 Magic, +2% total magic pool increase

Body

8

Very Rare Heavy Leather Armor, -3 speed, +3 agility, +8 constitution

Arms

8

Very Rare Leather Bracers, +4 strength, +4 agility

Feet

8

Very Rare Leather Combat Boots, +4 speed, +4 agility

Legs

8

Very Rare Leather Greaves, +8 stamina, Defense Bonus 15

Misc 1

15

Black and White Leather Belt of Channeling, +15 channeling

Misc 2

20

Bracelet of the Kahn, +5 strength, +5 Constitution, +5 Skill to Leadership

Misc 3

11

Jeweled Trader’s Brooch, +5 Charisma, +3% better selling prices

Hands

Head

Cloak

20

Unique Bear Cloak, Weight 20 lbs, +5 strength, +5 constitution, +5 stamina, +5 charisma

Weapon

0

Rare Steel Two-Handed Axe, Weight 6.8 lbs

“So those are your 13 slots. The number in the second column is the required level to utilize it. You can still equip those items; they just don’t function. If you look in your interface, they should be red.” Oh yeah, and I was confused.

Seeing my confusion, he answered. “Updates…was about two weeks ago in the game. It added the level requirements for utilizing the equipment. Also, you will see you now only have three slots for miscellaneous items. It was unlimited before. I am sorry. I am just assuming you were not aware of this since you don’t have all your slots filled?”

“Yes, I knew about only being able to equip two rings. But the rest…no. I am not very good at following updates.” I supplied with some embarrassment.

“No problem, mate. Following the updates is a frigging full-time job! We have our friends on the outside sifting the updates for us.” He laughed. “Well, your gear is okay. No second ring? And if you go into your interface, you can shift the Kahn bracelet to your hand slot. A lot of miscellaneous items can be moved around to relevant slots to maximize your gear. Do you have another misc item? You can see it in the exploded description.” The group waited patiently as I figured things out. Being level 17 meant three pieces of my gear did not function.

I had given away all my rings to people in the village or sold them. I had the Membership Signet Ring for Order of the Crimson Shard, Knight Rank. But there was no use wearing it. Yeah, this was my best gear. I looked at the others and smiled weakly. “Yeah, this is the best stuff I got. Half of it doesn’t even function because I am still level 17.”

They all looked at me and dug into their packs without hesitation. Mad Dog said, “We sold most of the gear we looted but when the game resets, we will not need any of this stuff. You don’t realize how much you have already helped us out.” Soon, a pile of gear was on the table. “We should be able to exchange this gear for giving us information about the new dungeon.”

Ring of Ultimate Power, Strength +5

Lessor Void Ring of the Abyss, +5 Space Magic, +5 Intellect

Wyvern Hide Leather Gloves, +5% poison resistance, +5 constitution

Mask of Sullen God, +3 to all stats, all attempts to analyze you will fail

“That last one was a quest item when we started. It is a chain quest that we never finished, but the level requirement is only five, and it has a decent boost for all stats. Not sure if you can pick up the quest, but we will not be returning to that area, so it is yours. I am sorry, but most of our gear is for level 30+. This is the best we could do with items we had not sold...the item descriptions…well, they were more apropos when we got them.”

“No, this is fantastic!” I squeaked in joy at their generosity. The mask was the highlight of the set. It was a plain white oval with two eye slits. I picked it up and was offered a quest.

Release the Sullen God, Travel to the city of Thira, and meet with the Priestess of the Sullen God

“I got the quest,” I shared it with them.

“Yep, that is where we left off. Thira is on an island some 20,000 miles from here. Also, you need to search the city for the Priestess, and she is in hiding. We found out that the Sullen God was exiled by her brethren. Releasing her will cause some discord in the pantheon. The quest is epic. You can see that in your interface here.” He pointed it out. “We did the first two segments but knew it was going to take too long to travel to Thira. Also, when the game reboots, we will lose the mask anyway.” They all nodded at this.

I put the mask on, and another prompt struck me.

Do you wish to bind your faith to the Sullen God?

“What does this mean about binding my faith to the Sullen God?” I asked, a little worried.

“Oh, you can only worship one deity in the game. So far, all we can tell is that means you get a discount at their temples and some bonus quests here and there. None of us have done that. We are all too free of spirit to worship a deity, even in a game!” They laughed at some joke I was not privy to.

I chose ‘no’ and left the mask on. “So let's go to the dungeon. Our buff is only good for another 3 hours and 40 minutes.”

Grinder spoke through a mouthful of food, “Just eat more and reset the buff.” We all looked at each other, shrugged, and shared another meat pie.

We all got mounts from the stables, and they paid the discounted price I had promised. Curraen even had saddles in the general store for them to buy. The ride only took fifteen minutes. We cleared off the dirt and removed the large stone.

You have unsealed the tomb of the Phoenix King, you may slay him, but he will always return more powerful!

Mad Dog was giddy after reading his interface. Stairs leading down to a murky darkness now stood where the stone had been. We all descended as a group. It was like a flash as the blackness turned bright. We were on a white frozen expanse. “Thank God the environmental effects are not active yet!” Grinder muttered.

You could still feel the cold, but you could ignore it. “Where do we go?” I asked, looking around in circles. Every direction looked the same. Rolling white…nope, one direction had a white mountain in the distance.

“Yep,” Mad Dog said. “Every dungeon boss’s lair is usually easy to find on the current level. We will take a day or two to walk there. Fighting the mobs as we go. Most likely, this floor’s boss has a castle, cave, or something at the top of that mountain. To leave the dungeon, just go to your interface and select the exit command. If you disband from the party, it will also kick you out since I am the party leader. If I quit the party, everyone but me would be forced to leave. It means as a party leader, I have a lot of power.” Black Beauty rolled her eyes.

Grinder interrupted, “If the party leader disbands the party, the forced exit takes 60 seconds. So he can not steal all the loot after a boss is killed.” Mad Dog tried to look innocent, but they all laughed, so I joined them in the joke, which I didn’t really understand.

We walked for a short while, and a crystalline fox sprang at us.

Ice Elemental Fox, Level 20

Black Beauty had slip-stepped behind it before I could cast my stone bullet spell and killed it with a dual dagger strike. And yep, no experience for me. Grinder went and searched the fox.

“Lessor Ice Essence. Not bad for just a level 20 mob in a dungeon.” He spoke to me, “It can be used in alchemy and enchanting. Worth about a gold right now in the auction houses.” It’s not a bad place to grind money if they all drop one.

We traveled and killed nine more foxes. We harvested five more lessor ice essences. Mad Dog said the drop rate was probably 50%. Since this was the only apparent mob, he told me the next one was all mine. Excited, I went in front, and when it manifested from a snow drift, I started on my spell, only for it to hit me and interrupt the casting.

You have been hit for 98 damage, a slow buff has been added; -5 speed for 60 seconds

I switched to my axe and exchanged blows with the fast fox elemental. When I was at 60% health, the beast finally died. I looked over at my companions, and they nodded. It wasn’t pretty, but I won. I still didn’t get any experience.

“Okay, Tallis, if you want to use your spells, you need to see the enemy sooner. I think you will be okay on your own. We will walk parallel to the mountain about 150 yards apart. We are going to zig-zag to get more kills, but you should go straight at the mountain. If you bite off more than you can chew just beeline it for us and bring the train to Daddy.” Mad Dog said.

Grinder jumped in a place like a little kid and screamed, “Time to GRIND!”

The other two just shook their head at his antics. They were shocked when I screamed, “Time to GRIND!” Echoing Grinder’s call.