Chapter 10 [The Walk | Kyle]

Welp, got the hard part outta the way. That went much better’n I’d thought it would. So, what we workin’ on next? While Leah fiddled with her Grimoire, Kyle altered his priorities to match his current progress. Maeve’s torrent of questions had finally ended—with her last being how she could get a Grimoire. She’d pouted for a minute after he told her she would have to wait, and was now walking beside her mom, looking at the new Grimoire over her shoulder and pronouncing words as they appeared on the page.

[Priorities:

2 | Wake Leah.

3 1 | Get to the Slime farm ASAP. In progress.

4 2 | Hope some Stage 4’s are nurtured while I’m gone. I’m hoping.

5 4 3 | Create a legend for what letters I’ll use for the different variables.

4 5 4 | On the way back, try to determine how the System calculates the Range of Appraisal.

6 | Kill some Stage 4’s or reach Stage 4, whichever comes first.

7 | Attempt to determine how the System calculates damage… (Not getting my hopes up)

5 | Appraise Leah’s weapon. Compare her Appraisal to my own. May help with priorities 4 and 7.

8 9 | Allow Maeve and Rowan to Awaken? They both need to, but should I rush? They’re going to need to learn to fight and use the interface, but I really don’t want them doing either until I have a way to protect them. I don’t have any way to tank the acidic damage that comes from attacking a Slime. Leah… won’t be happy about this, but it’s going to have to happen eventually, or it’ll happen on its own after the transition period and they’ll miss out on a few hours of double experience.

8 | Talk with Leah about the children. Fingers crossed, she won’t put up too much of a fight. Now isn’t the time for us to be arguing.]

“Alright, Iroh. Let’s take a look at Appraisal, if’n ya don’t mind,” he spoke out loud so that Leah could hear as well. “Leah, if ya got a sec, can ya show me what Appraisal says for you? I’m tryin’ to see what makes it tick.”

New priority. Ten. Make more pages an’ add Leah’s Attributes an’ Abilities to it. Kyle thought for a second, then added, Kids’ too. Gonna need to keep up to snuff with what everyone’s doin’. Gonna need a lot more Mana.

“What makes it…” Leah moved next to him, the Ability’s description already showing on the first page of her Grimoire.

[Innate Ability | Appraisal]

[Tier | 1]

[Stage | 1]

[IAP | 0/1]

[The Host is capable of gathering information from the world around them. To trigger this Ability, simply focus on a target with the intent of studying them.]

[Effect 1 | Reveals details about any creature below Tier 2.]

[Effect 2 | Reveals details about any item below Tier 2.]

[Governing Attributes | Intuition. Acuity.]

[Range | 1 yard.]

Kyle quickly copied the description into his notes, cramming it into the top corner of the page. Only Tier Two? So… Must only be able to get information from creatures that are the same Tier as the Ability’s Stage. Wait…

He glanced over at Leah and focused on her, using the same method he’d used on the Slimes to see her Attributes. Nothing.

She looked up at him and raised an eyebrow, “I’d send you a picture so it’d last longer, but uh… no phone. Why are you staring so hard?”

“Oh, nuttin’,” Kyle grumbled. It’s gonna be hard to get a read on other folks, now. I reckon I could only see hers a’fore ‘cause she hadn’t Awakened. “Have ya tried usin’ Appraisal yet? Look at one o’ the kids and think about readin’ ‘em?”

“Reading them?” She looked confused.

“Ah… Look at ‘em like ya wanna know ‘bout ‘em.” He tried again. “Fer me, it’s easier to think o’ seein’ their data in a book. Kinda like the classes in our tabletop books.”

“Okay…” She hesitated, then concentrated on Rowan. “What’s it supposed to—Oh!” Her description for Appraisal vanished and was replaced by a single line.

[Human]

Kyle chuckled, and Leah glared at him. She scoffed, “It doesn’t even say his name?”

“It won’t show his name ‘til he has his own Grimoire,” Kyle replied, using the moment to slip in a hint toward a later discussion. He pulled up Rowan’s description using his Appraisal, showing her his Stage, and that all of his Primary Attributes were full. “I can’t see yers anymore now that ya done Awakened. I reckon the System didn’t actually count ya as Tier Three until it did. Oh, did ya use any AP yet?”

“No.” She had her Grimoire flip to the second page, showing that her Attributes were the same as his when he’d first Awakened. “I wanted to ask you about them first. The book’s been… less than helpful. It’s mostly just said that it can’t tell me more until the transition period is over.”

“Good. That means yer Appraisal is as base as it can be.” Kyle stroked his beard and flipped to his notes. “What all could it tell ya? Slipped my mind that Iroh prolly knows more than he should. Whatever the System is musta felt sorry fer the way I got woke up.”

“How did—never mind. We’re on some kind of greater Earth. There are things other than Humans and animals we’ll have to look out for. We can get stronger by killing things. Umm…” She paused and looked down—first at her body, and then at the stick in her hand. “We’re naked. This stick makes me feel like I should be saying ooga booga and living in a cave. And I’m barely keeping myself from freaking out. That’s pretty much it.”

Kyle laughed, “Well, I ain’t gotta lot more I can tell ya. A lil’ more depth on them topics, I reckon.”

He proceeded to tell Leah everything he’d learned before asking Iroh to move closer to her so she could read through his notes. She only skimmed most of his rambling, but asked questions about the Slimes and Domain.

“Sorry.” Kyle tapped the side of his head. “Ain’t got nuttin’ left in here. We’re gonna have to get inside o’ that cave if’n we wanna know more. I got a feelin’ there’s somethin’ real important ‘bout them Domains. Ain’t no way to learn new Abilities without ‘em. Things’re gonna get real ugly real quick when folks start figurin’ that out.”

“And that’s why you wanted to rush out here?” she asked.

He nodded. “That’s right. We need to get ahead. I ain’t sayin’ I wanna go it alone, but this ain’t somethin’ folks’re gonna take well. ‘Fore everyone else gets to wakin’ up, we need to be far enough ahead that can’t none o’ ‘em hurt us.” Kyle gave her a pointed look. “Not just us. The kids, too.”

Leah’s face paled, and he didn’t miss the way her eyes roamed the wounds on his body. “No. Absolutely not. You can’t expect—”

“I ain’t expectin’ nuttin’, Leah,” he spoke harshly. With a sigh, he reached in his sqwallet and pulled out one of the Cores. “I ain’t gonna toss ‘em in an’ let ‘em get hurt. Me an’ you are gonna kill ‘em there Slimes ‘til we get in the Domain. ‘Fore we don anythin’, I wanna see what this here means by currency. I wanna get a look at what Abilities I can get. Maybe I can find somethin’ that’ll let me keep ‘em from getting’ hurt, an’ they can kill some o’ the lil’ ones while me an’ you get the big’uns. If these ain’t gonna do us no good, we use ‘em to get the kids to Stage Two. I got ‘nuff of ‘em to do it several times o’er.”

Instead of getting upset—like Kyle thought she would—she looked thoughtfully over toward Maeve, who was looking away and pretending not to hear their conversation. She pulled the little girl close. “Maeve was only just supposed to start Kindergarten thisyear if we hadn’t started homeschooling last year. Rowan still shouldn’t be out of pre-school. He just turned five, Kyle.”

“I know, Leah.” Kyle sighed and shook his head. “But this here place… these creatures… even somepeople… they won’t give a damn about the kids’ ages.”

“Mommy…” Maeve spoke up, and Kyle glanced over to see her squeeze her mother’s hand. “I want a book too.”

Kyle smiled, and Leah let out something that was a mix between a laugh and a sob. She wiped away a few tears and gently squeezed back. “Alright… But not until Daddy says so, and only if we find a way to keep you safe. At least… mostly safe. I don’t know if there isa safe, anymore.”

“Okay.” Maeve’s face looked serious. “But don’t take too long.”

“Haha. Okay, baby.” Leah turned to Kyle. “What should I do with my Attributes?”

Kyle shook his head, “Nope. Nuh-uh. I’ll answer some questions best I can, but yer gonna have to build yerself. I ain’t gonna let ya blame me just ‘cause ya can’t one shot a giant. ‘Member that one campaign ya asked me to help ‘cause ya always failed yer rolls?”

“We don’t speak of that night,” she said, her voice sounding grave.

Kyle chuckled. “Alright. While yer thinkin’ ‘bout it, lemme get that stick o’ yers to look o’er. I wanna know what it says fer you ‘fore you add any Attributes, too.”

“Here.” She handed it to him without looking up from her Grimoire.

Iroh, page one.

[Name | Ol’ Bill’s Tire Knocker]

[Tier | 0]

[Stage | 1]

[Description | A sturdy branch found on the side of I-40. Bill shaped it up, wrapped some leather around the bottom, and shaved away some of the excess on the top to form a makeshift cudgel. Used to ‘check the tire pressure’.]

[Damage | 37]

Kyle whistled. “That there’s got some punch.”

That’s… ‘bout ten more damage’n I can do to a Stage One Slime. Seems it ought to be more. He handed it back to Leah. “What’s the damage say fer you?”

“Hmm?” She took the cudgel. “Oh, right now… Twenty-nine. This description, though…”

He laughed. “Ya think that’s odd, ya ought to see what my sqwallet says.”

“No, thank you.” Leah shook her head vigorously. “Am I good to add my Attributes, now?”

“Make a decision?” he asked. “Sure. Let’s see whatcha got.”

She nodded, scrunched her brows, then pushed her Grimoire over to him. He was both pleased and irritated that she’d barely seemed to experience some mild discomfort.

[Leah | Stage 1]

[Race | Humanoid]

[Genus | Human]

[Tier | 3]

[Exp | 6/100 | 3/cycle]

[Health | 134/135 | 6/cycle]

[Energy | 153/155 | 6/cycle]

[Mana | 100/150 | 5/cycle]

[Resilience | 5]

[Vigor | 6]

[Vitality | 6]

[Force | 7]

[Intuition | 6]

[Acuity | 5]

[AP | 0 (Attribute Points)]

[AAP | 2 (Active Ability Points)]

[IAP | 1 (Innate Ability Points)]

“I knew you’d be puttin’ points in Force.” Kyle chuckled, then asked hopefully, “Did ya get a breakdown for what they did after ya unlocked ‘em?”

She nodded, and the Grimoire flipped back to page one.

[Vigor | Host has discovered new traits. Vigor increases Health (+5) and Health Regeneration (+1/cycle).]

[Vitality | Host has discovered new traits. Vitality increases Energy (+10) and Energy Regeneration (+1/cycle).]

[Force | Host has discovered new traits. Force increases Health (+5) and Energy (+5).]

[Intuition | Host has discovered new traits. Intuition increases Mana (+10).]

“That covers all the ones you’re missing, right?” she asked. “Don’t give me that look. I didn’t do it just to find out… well, maybe partly. I plan on focusing on Force if it does what you said you think it does. I’m not crazy like you. I’ll put a few Attributes in the others until I’ve decided on a secondary Attribute. I want to get a feel for them first.”

“If yer sure,” Kyle shrugged. “Did yer damage go up at all?”

“Mmm…” Leah studied the wooden club, then glanced in her book. “Yeah, it did, actually. It’s up to thirty.”

“Interestin’…” He made another note with that information after copying down the new data from the four Attributes. “Now, if I can just get Appraisal showin’ me Recoveries, I can prolly figure up what Attributes the different Slimes have.”

Leah rolled her eyes. “You would try to do that. How much farther?”

“Just over that hill up yonder. Whole mess o’ Slimes in the holler on the other side.” He glanced up and squinted. “Hell, looks like there might be a couple o’ ‘em waitin’ down this side by the time we get there. Maeve, yer bein’ awfully quiet o’er there.”

“Hmm?” Maeve looked up. “I’m just listening. You talk a lot.”

“Yer one to talk. I ain’t never seen ya this quiet ‘side from when yer sleepin’. Sure yer okay, Littles?”

“It’s just…” The little girl’s face became serious. “Daddy… What if I gotta go potty?”