Chapter 71 - Training Rajesh

“I’m so glad you could make it!” Blake greeted his friend with excitement, as Rajesh stepped out of his car. 

The Indian ex grad student nodded and tried to pierce through the darkness to see their budding town. Blake shined his flashlight on their destination, the cookhouse in the distance. Faint light escaped through the curtains over paneless windows. 

“We already started dinner, but the food’s still warm if you want some.”

“I already ate,” Rajesh replied, distracted.

Blake shrugged. “Well, come on. I’ll introduce you to everyone.”

His leg wound was mostly healed, and he no longer walked with a limp. Once his chi recovered, he planned to begin work on his shoulder’s repair, but for now, his arms were stiff and did not move well.

As they neared the faction hall, Rajesh showed great interest in the building. “Can you shine the light on this?”

“Sure,” Blake complied, with difficulty.

Rajesh ran his fingers along the stone pillars that lined the front and began to circle the building. “How long did it take to build this? How many people labored on it?” he asked.

“Uh, not sure exactly how long, but from level one to three, I’d say a little over a month. As far as workers, just two, Jordan and Brent.”

His friend whistled. “That is impressive.” He then glanced at the other buildings that surrounded them. “Much more so than the other structures.”

“Yeah, but most of them are pretty low level. They get more impressive looking as we upgrade them. They also get more features, like indoor plumbing, and even air conditioning.”

Rajesh frowned. “I thought you said electricity does not work after Invasion day.”

“It does, and it doesn’t,” Blake waffled. “Like you said before, the human body requires electricity to work, so it's obviously not all gone. But, electronics don’t work, lightning never shows up, and we never figured out a way to generate it outside a spell.”

“Then how will you refrigerate a structure?” Rajesh asked.

“I think it does it through a mana siphon and enchantment, but I’m not sure. All I know is that after Invasion day, electricity only exists at the whims of the AI.”

“Enchantment?” Rajesh curled his lip in disdain.

Blake laughed. “Yeah, that’s what it’s called. Although, I think it’s a translation issue. Essentially, any time you tie an object permanently to mana or the aether, it’s called an enchantment. After you establish the connection, you can use the energy to pretty much do whatever you want with it.”

Rajesh’s eyes lit up. “That sounds more like my area of expertise.”

“Probably so,” Blake agreed. “Like I said, I think it’s a translation issue. Most people see it as magic, so the AI assigned a magical sounding name to it rather than a physics based one.”

“Yes, the masses rarely understand how things work,” Rajesh noted. “You said mana and aether, what of the other two energies? Can they be harnessed as well?”

“Kind of,” Blake hedged. “I don’t think you can establish a direct connection, but you can create something that can interact with psi or chi.”

“Interact, how?”

“Well, take my new spear, for example. It doesn’t have a connection to chi, but it can channel my own energy into the tip to make it sharper.”

“Hmm, almost like circuits,” Rajesh mused. “I would like to learn this, ‘enchanting’. It sounds interesting.”

“Well, if you do want to learn it, you can. But, then you can’t have a combat class.”

“Why not?”

“Hell if I know,” Blake admitted. “But, that’s the way the AI wants things. You have to pick one or the other. You can’t have both.”

Rajesh scratched his chin. “I suppose studying it will have to be a hobby, then. Only a fool would give up the power a combat class offers.”

Blake chuckled. “Or, only a fool would risk their lives on a daily basis, when you could reap all the benefits and get rich in safety by making stuff.”

Rajesh frowned. “Do you not have a combat class?”

“Oh, I do,” Blake assured him. “I’ve just heard both sides of the argument.” He gestured toward the cookhouse. “Come on inside, I think they’re still serving desert.”

As they neared the building, light spilled from the open windows. Rajesh startled when he finally saw Blake’s condition and asked, “What happened to your face?”

He absently ran his fingers over the burns. “Oh, this? I just got burned while fighting Manders. Don’t worry, it’ll be gone in a couple of days.”

Rajesh shook his head in disbelief.

The inside of the dining hall was lit by battery powered lamps scattered throughout the building. Four long tables took up the majority of the room, yet only one was occupied. At the closest table sat Blake’s family, along with Montgomery and Jeff. The six of them were the only people currently living in the town, and Rajesh would be the seventh.

Montgomery was in the midst of a tale of his prowess against the goblins, and had not yet noticed Blake and Rajesh’s entry. 

“... didn’t know what to do, it just stood there. Then I…”

Rajesh, glanced at the people at the table, but most of his attention was focused on the building itself. After a moment of observation, he turned to Blake. “After Invasion day, will this be lit by candles?”

Blake shook his head. “No, the cookhouse is level one right now, so it’s kind of basic. Once we upgrade it, it gets lights, plumbing, and heating just like the bunkhouse. It also gets a freezer eventually, which we’ll need if we want to feed thousands of people.”

Rajesh looked at him in disbelief. “You believe this one kitchen can feed thousands?” 

Blake snorted. “Of course not. It gets a lot bigger when it levels up, but not that big. No, we’ll need like twenty of these at least.” 

Montgomery finished his story, so Blake spoke up before his friend could begin another. “Hey guys, this is Rajesh.” He then gestured toward the people seated, one at a time. “Rajesh, these are my parents, Donna and Peter, my brother Oliver, Montgomery, and that’s Jeff.”

“Nice to meet you,” Rajesh responded politely.

“Where’d you find the new guy?” Montgomery asked.

“In Phoenix,” Blake answered. “I actually saw him before I found you and Jeff. Like you guys, he was a part of my old combat team.”

“I’m glad you could find another friend,” his dad told him.

“I told you he’d change his mind,” his mother smiled.

“Rajesh, would you like some apple pie? It’s freshly made.”

“No, thank you,” he declined. “I ate on the drive here.”

“Well, I want a slice,” Blake announced as he strode over to the pie and helped himself.

“So, Rajesh,” Montgomery began. “Are you sleeping here, too?”

The Indian nodded. 

“That’s cool. The bathroom sucks, but the beds are actually pretty comfortable. At least, once you fix them, they are.”

“Hey, I put those together.” Oliver interrupted. “What’s wrong with the beds?”

“They squeak.”

“So?” 

Montgomery rolled his eyes. “So, you have to tighten the screws all the way to stop it.”

Jeff nodded his agreement.

“Whatever,” Oliver complained and shoved another bite of apple pie in his mouth.

“Are you going to choose a combat class, or will you be a worker?” Donna asked.

“Combat,” he answered.

“I figured he can join Jeff and Montgomery’s team since the others already have four members.”

“Now we have two Indians on our team!” Montgomery chuckled at his bad joke.

Most at the table groaned.

When Blake saw that Rajesh was confused, he explained. “Their other team member is a Native American.”

“Ah, I see,” Rajesh nodded.

They continued to talk over pie, until it was time for bed. Once Rajesh retrieved his bags from his car, Blake showed him his new room, and promised to start training him in the morning.

“Sorry, there’s not really much of a selection anymore,” Blake said as he showed Rajesh the mostly barren armory. “All the level one gear was already picked through.”

All the new gear Blake had earned was distributed to their new recruits. The only things left were the rewards from his first scenarios and a few new ones that Montgomery and Jeff had received.

“That is fine,” Rajesh assured him. “I will use the mace.”

“Okay,” Blake shrugged. “Here, let me transfer you some nano so you can raise your attributes.”

They grasped hands, and he gifted his old friend forty mega-nano. Blake felt slightly guilty that he had not gifted any of the others nano to raise their attributes, only his three friends. However, he could not afford to spread around his nano to everyone. 

Not if he wanted to reach level three before Invasion day.

“Go ahead and sit down. Then you can purchase the ‘Mace Mastery’ skill,” Blake ordered.

Rajesh sat on the wooden floor and nodded. A moment later, he grasped his head in pain as information overloaded his brain.

When he recovered, Blake said, “Hurts like a bitch, am I right?” 

His friend agreed.

“Okay, now use the rest of the nano to upgrade your Physical Power by three. After you do that, the two the necklace gives you should bring it up to nine.”

Rajesh nodded. “Will that hurt as well?”

“No, you won’t feel a thing. In a couple of hours, you’ll be as strong as a powerlifter, and as fast as an Olympic sprinter.”

His friend shook his head. “That is amazing.”

Blake smiled. “Just wait till you get magic.”

For hours, Blake trained with Rajesh, while Montgomery and Jeff escorted Dahteste through a scenario. While they sparred, he answered every question Rajesh posed, of which there were many. He explained in great detail how scenarios worked, how to customize the interface, and how the progression system worked. 

“So, you do not need to actually fight to grow stronger? You only need an abundance of nano-machines?”

Blake laughed. “I’ve had this discussion, a LOT. You’re talking about buying power versus earning it.”

“Why does ‘earning it’ matter?” Rajesh asked as he rested with his back against a pillar of the faction hall.

“It’s true that you can buy your levels and attributes with nano. At least up to a certain point, anyway. But, in order to advance your skills and spells, you have to use them. Good luck doing that while you’re sitting on your ass in a bar,” Blake chuckled. “But, the big difference is the experience you gain by fighting. Using spells or your weapon becomes instinctual. There’s no delay as you decide how to react to a situation, you just do. Sometimes, the difference between half a second is living and dying.”

Rajesh frowned. “I can see how that would be an advantage when one is close in levels, but what if you are wealthy and buy twenty levels worth of attributes and levels. No amount of ‘experience’ will overcome that.”

“True, but you can’t just buy that many levels. In order to reach level ten, you not only have to drink a special alchemy potion, but you have to complete a series of directives, too.”

“Why is level ten special?”

“Level ten is when you get access to advanced spells. They’re a lot stronger than the basic ones you start off with.”

“If they are so strong, why did you waste your time evolving the basic ones you have now?”

“Because the ones I have now are a lot more useful. If I want to keep soloing scenarios above my level, I need every advantage I can get.”

“What is in the ‘special potion’?” Rajesh asked. “I hope it is not actually alchemy, but another translation issue?”

Blake shrugged. “I don’t know much about it. I just know Alchemists make it from rare materials found off world, and it changes your DNA. You actually get a bit taller and better looking after you take it.”

“Is level then the only time you go through this process?”

Blake shook his head. “No, it happens again at level twenty-five. That’s when you get to expert level spells.”

“What are those like?”

“Well, I actually just hit level twenty-five right before I went back in time. My only expert spell was Titanform, but while it was active, for a full minute, I was like a god. I was over fifteen feet tall, and could punch through mountains.”

Rajesh frowned. “Did you not say that you lost the fight?”

“Yeah, I did. I don’t think you understand just how strong Lord Zeleck was, is, whatever.”

“What comes after expert?”

Blake shrugged. “I don’t know. No one ever got that high. The highest level person I knew was level twenty-seven.”

“And you got stronger exclusively through scenarios?”

“Not really. Most of the time, scenarios are the most efficient way, but after Invasion day, the Architect will throw hundreds of directives at us. It’ll give you a directive to eliminate a goblin stronghold in the local Builder Depot, or rescue a family from their home. Hell, it even gives directives to conquer the neighboring factions.”

“Interesting. Are you forced to complete these directives?”

Blake shook his head. “No, they’re just incentives. The only ones you need to complete are the ones tied to your breakthroughs. Level ten and twenty-five.”

“Why not only complete scenarios, then?”

“Because it’s kind of hard to say no to saving a family who’s trapped in their house.”

“I suppose…” Rajesh agreed, doubtfully. “How many portals are there?”

Blake shrugged. “I don’t know. At least tens of thousands worldwide. Around here, there’s one in Show Low, Pinetop, and Whiteriver. If you go further out, there’s one near Greer, Payson, Snowflake, and a bunch down by Phoenix.”

“You should create a list of all portal locations, with a description of what is inside, for the combat teams. That way, if something happens to you, we are not left in the dark.”

“That’s a good idea,” Blake agreed. “I’ll get started on that when I get back from Payson.”

“What is in Payson?”

“We’re going to start our first expansion town. I’m going to pick out a spot in the national forest, up by the rim, for our faction hall there. While it assembles, I figure I’ll check out the Arachne scenario. I’m kind of burnt out on the Manders.”

He chuckled at his own joke.